Even Otter Things have Happened
by DrunkenTavern
Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right…
1. Chapter I: To Break the King's Heart

**Even Otter Things have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Wow. This is my first PoM fanfic! Thanks to Miztah Han for all the coaching, and Panacea447 and Soft_Kitty (^_^) for all the encouragement. Well, hope you like it! XD ~Triksterr206**

**Chapter I: To break the King's Heart  
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Marlene sat at the edge of her pool, watching the sun rise over the horizon. She sighed, taking in the beautiful sight, sad it would end soon. She was still sad at what happened yesterday. The joker she was starting to fall for, wasn't really a joker. She sighed deeper at the thought of Fred and Julien fighting over her, and what happened to him after that. Turns out the Lovulator was a total failure, and science could never really tell whose true love is who. Fred was past, and she had to move on. Her peaceful moment was totally shattered when King Julien, still in bandages, popped up behind her. She was so surprised, she fell right into the pool.

"Well hello there silly otter!" said the self-proclaimed King, waving a bandaged arm while trying to disguise the pain he felt, which failed horribly.

"Julien! Stop sneaking on me like that." Marlene snapped back, climbing up on the rocks and shaking herself dry. "What do you want?" But anger quickly changed to worry when she saw Julien's bandaged limbs. "Are you alright?" She asked, after seeing Julien in pain.

"Now, do not go being worried at what happened yesterday."

Marlene also noticed only now that Julien was awake. Usually he was asleep, and woke only at noon when he warmed up for his 'dancing for the people of Central Park'. Marlene was becoming increasingly suspicious by the minute, and blurted out, "What do you really want?"

Julien was surprised by the way she answered, and meekly replied, "I just want to be talking wid you, dat's all."

"About what happened yesterday? Julien, you don't have to talk about it. Fred is, well, Fred, and we're sooo not happening."

"But do you not be seeing it Marlene? I am being in love wid you! I want to be being your boyfriend, with all the huggies and kissies and such and such. Do you not be seeing it?"

At first Marlene was surprised by the lemur's confession, but surprise quickly turned into uncomfortable awkwardness as Marlene stuttered out a reply to his seemingly random outburst.

"Bu-bu-but Julien, I-I'm not in love with you. Do you know what I mean? We're just friends."

"So no kissies and huggies and the such and such like dat?"

"No. We-we-we're just friends." She finished, afraid of breaking Julien's heart, but also wanting to rid herself of the discomfort in her gut. "I love you, but not-not in that way."

Julien suddenly launched himself at Marlene, tears breaking out his big yellow eyes, Marlene pinned against the rock-wall of her cave. She was so close to him, they were already nose-to-nose, making Marlene feel very uncomfortable. She protested, "Juli-!" but all that was drowned by the lemur's voice,

"Why are not being in love wid me Marlene? I am fuzzy, I have a bushy tail, I am a king! What cannot you be wanting from me?"

Marlene finally snapped, and pushed Julien away, not at all sorry. "Look Julien, not even with your good looks or even if you-your-you're a self proclaimed king, I won't ever fall in love with you! Y-y-y'know not even with the strongest love potion, I won't fall in love with you!"

She expected Julien to burst into tears and run off like a child denied candy, but a weird smile appeared on his face, muttering. "Yes, love potion, that might work…"

Julien then sprints off into the direction of the penguin's lair.

"Oh no. I have a bad feeling about this.

At first, Kowalski refuses, but because of the lemur's incessant pleading and pathetic death-threats, he agrees but sets conditions:

"Fine. But you'll have to stop going into our habitat at night."

Julien just laughs at Kowalski's conditions but later agrees. As Kowalski starts making the love potion, Julien sits in front of their television and whispers to himself "Fine, silly penguin. I'll just ask Maurice to do it instead."

"Yes! I present to you Love Potion #37!"

As soon as Kowalski finished talking, Julien snatched the potion and ran off. Later, he runs along the zoo's wall to return to his habitat, laughing at his success and the smarty penguin being so stupid! So caught up was he in his laughter, that the vial of love potion dropped into the park, unnoticed by the king.

***Later On***

Fred was staring at the morning sun, glassy eyed and drooling. "That's a pretty big orange, and it hurts my eyes just looking at it. Soooo big!"

But his thoughts were interrupted when a cylindrical bottle containing pink liquid inside it rolled to his feet, coming to a halt.

"What's this?" asked Fred himself. "Hmmm, strawberry milkshake! Thank you giant tasty orange for the strawberry drink! Wrong flavor though!"

Fred the uncorks the bottle, and takes a big gulp from it. "Yah, that isn't strawberry at all." He sighed, and ran back up to his tree, leaving the bottle on the grass. Several drops of the liquid leaked onto the grass, which then began to slowly grow…


	2. Chapter II: Super Squirrel

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Wow, didn't expect great feedback even from the first chapter! Thanks to Poette O'Deal, Icicle1Penguin, and Hazel the Rabbit for the reviews. Thanks again to the one and only Miztah Han, and to Drunken_Rookie for all the help with King Julien! Enjoy:**

**Chapter II: Super Squirrel**

"Maurice! Aha, look at what the silly peng - uh – look what I have!" Julien screamed as he burst into his kingdom, looking for his right-hand man.

"Ohkaaay, what am I supposed to be looking at?" said Maurice skeptically.

"What? 'Dis!" carelessly replied the King, holding up his hand, with nothing in it. "What? Where is da lovey potion they – I mean – I made?" Julien looked around, searching for the potion.

"Love potion? What love potion? Were you going to use it to date Marlene?"

"Duh, Maurice? What else is a lovey potion is being used for?"

"Hmmm. Come Maurice, we be needing to search all over my kingdom for my lovey potion. Starting with the stupid penguins!"

***Later On***

"Well hello there, neighbor-y penguins!" said Julien, coming out of fish bowl entrance and landing on Kowalski.

"What is it now ringtail?" Skipper said annoyed by Julien's intrusion.

"Umm excuse me, but I was wanting to be talking to the other silly penguin, so be shutting up a little." Julien replies, waving off Skipper and walking to Kowalski.

"What now Julien?" Kowalski finally said rubbing his head where Julien fell on it.

"My lovey potion, is in the missing. I need you and your fellow silly penguins to look for it."

"And what do we get in return?" Skipper said, trying to start a negotiation with him.

"Eh…" Julien said trying to think of something.

"See." Skipper said as if he had won the war.

"Aha! I will give you all of Mort's food, and Mort too."

"Fine ringtail. We'll look for your toy." Skipper said, finally agreeing despite the fact that the reward was absolutely worthless.

The four penguins jumped out of their habitat and searched all over the zoo, sliding on their bellies and checking every habitat. Finally, after nearly two hours of searching, Skipper calls his team back for a break. The penguins slid on their bellies back to their habitat.

"Ringtail!" screamed Skipper, searching for the lemur that had started this whole mess. "Could you be a little more specific? Like where you were when it got lost?"

"Wat wid da wat wat now?" asked Julien absentmindedly, checking the nails on his perfectly manicured hands.

"Skipper does seem to have a point King Julien.", replied Kowalski. "By retracing your steps from the lab to the lemur habitat, it would increase the chances of our finding the potion by 23.7%."

"Wat? Okey fine. I left your home, then walked over to the wall over derr, then started laughing at how the stupid peng – uh – and started laughing for no apparent reason at all or which you should all be concern-y about it, so be shutting up a little!"

"Hmm, over the wall, you say? Hmm, is it possible the potion fell out of your grasp and into Central Park?"

"Of course it is Kowalski." answered Skipper. "Bug out men, check the park. Uh, you're coming with us too ringtail."

"Silly penguin! Why will da King go out to do such tings, when he has his servants to do it for him? Maurice! Go with the penguins."

They ran out of their habitat once to search the park. After nearly an hour of searching, and a small interrogation of Mother Duck, they turned to Fred to search for it.

"Bushy tail!" Skipper screamed as the four penguins slid on their bellies to the tree…

They hurried to the tree but when they got there, it was already too late, Fred had already drank the love potion, the empty vial was seen next to a big bush. Private called Fred down from the tree, knocking on the trunk.

"Oh hey guys!" Fred's voice from behind them said. Surprised, the penguins fell down to the ground. When they turned around, Skipper and Rico both opened their mouths, Maurice hit himself to be sure he wasn't dreaming, and Kowalski covered Private's eyes as they all saw what the potion has done to Fred.

Fred looked very different. He was bigger, taller, and more muscled. He looked like how Mort did when he got hit by the Giant ray, except without all the rage. All Skipper could do was stare at the difference, trying to remember what the squirrel was before this happened.

Kowalski looked around and saw the empty vial near the giant bush, and started thinking. Suddenly remembering, he screamed in horror and picked it up. "This is no love potion! I made the wrong potion for Julien!"

As the others stared at the source of the scream, Kowalski started pacing up and down, muttering to himself. "This was no ordinary potion Skipper. I mean look at this?" he pointed at the bush.

"What? It's just a bush right? I mean it's a little bigger than-?"

"That's grass Skipper. The love potion wasn't a love potion. It's an ultra-serum I designed to-"

"To boost the physical and intellectual capabilities of an individual to the point of meta-human ability by amplifying the genetic material and current brain and physical structure through several chemical reactions." Came a voice behind them that was oddly Fred's. Kowalski stuttered, calmed himself then and said "Bu-but-but how?" as he stares at Fred with his mouth agape.

"I told you, to boost-"

"I don't need to hear it twice!"

"Me neither. Rico!" said Skipper, pointing at Rico.

Rico laughed evilly then regurgitated a stick of dynamite and charged at Fred, who surprisingly counters by dodging the charge and, quickly catching the stick of dynamite, shoves it back into Rico's open mouth.

Private rushed behind Rico and started the squeezing his belly for the dynamite to come out before it exploded. Fred sits down next to his tree, yawns and notices the two penguins. Fred gets up and walks up to Private, sighs and says "You know, you're not doing the Heimlich right."

Private answered back meanly, "Oh! What do you know about it?"

"A lot. Here – Just position your flippers beneath the chest cavity, like this." said Fred, thoroughly bored.

Fred gently pushes Private away, places his paws around Rico, and starts squeezing his belly. The dynamite, and several other things, came out just before it exploded. Fred then turned to Private and said, "There. Now, if you would excuse me." The squirrel ran back up to and into his tree.

"Whoa, man!" Maurice spoke in a shocked and surprised voice. "I never thought Fred would-would turn into that!"

"I don't understand Skipper. It's like he's gotten all of our traits." Private said in a worried voice, returning to the zoo.

"We need to cure that fast. Kowalski, options" Skipper said, pointing at the tall penguin crying beside him, who looked up gingerly.

"Hold on now Skipper, maybe it isn't so bad. I mean Fred needs those skills, especially Kowalski's intelligence." Private said considering how Fred was like before.

"Well he does have a point Skipper. Besides, I can always mix up a real love potion for King Julien, pretend this whole mess never happened." Kowalski said proudly, stopping and posing in pride. Rico nods his head in agreement, and so does Maurice.

"Yay! See, Rico agrees." Private beamed.

"Uh! Fine, we'll see where this goes." Skipper said.

The penguins run back to their habitat, and after promising King Julien they'll look for it tomorrow, they sat quietly, each performing a hobby but only doing it to take their minds of Fred and his new powers, which failed abysmally: Kowalski testing new mixes of various chemicals, although he was just transferring colored water; Skipper in the corner with his fish-coffee, reading a page of '_The New Yorker_', but his eyes were unmoving; Rico brushing his doll's hair, even though a few strands already fell out; and Private staring blankly at the television, which wasn't even on at all. Deeply disturbed by the fact that there was someone way smarter than him a few meters away, Kowalski had made many and errors mistakes in his experiments.

During feeding time, they all sat quietly and uncomfortably as they ate their dinner. Skipper began twitching as he was cleaning the habitat. Later that night, all of the penguins had nightmares about Fred replacing them, being better than them and doing all of their missions. Skipper's nightmares however were different; he dreamt about Fred rescuing Marlene from a rabid King Julien, and being the gallant white knight in shining armor (literally, with Archie the Raccoon as his horse), while Skipper was Fred, dumb as a sack of hammers. Another even worse nightmare soon replaced it, that he would be separated from his team and Marlene and was transferred to Hoboken. That was the worst nightmare Skipper had ever had and he knew that that was the last straw. Skipper started screaming again until Private came down to his bunk to try and calm him down….


	3. Chapter III: Smashing Encounter

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn quite out right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar

**Thanks again to the reviewers! To Poette O'Deal (thanks again! Thumbs Up!) and to Byakuyafan1**. **To DrunkenRookie, get better soon! Miztah Han, you know what I'm gonna say! Thanks to Panacea447 for all the help with this chapter. Well here ya go guys:**

**Chapter III: Smashing Encounter**

Skipper told Private about his nightmare: Fred, Marlene, Hoboken, all of it. Private listened carefully, and when Skipper finished, he was as horrified as he was.

"Skipper, I've been having the same nightmare, Fred replacing all of us, but not you going away to Hoboken!"

"I know Private" said Skipper, laying down on Private. "My gut's just giving me the feeling that somehow, it might just be true."

"I won't let you leave Skipper. The team won't be the same without you!" he whispered, since Rico started snoring.

"I know Private. I know, but if that makes Marlene happy, then I'll have no other choice." He whispered back, and with a huge yawn, he fell asleep.

*** The following morning***

Private woke up to see Kowalski the only one awake, wrapping up untidy documents, the finished love potion for King Julien lying on the table. Rico was still snoring loudly, and Skipper fell asleep in Private's flippers after telling him of his nightmare. So as not to wake Skipper, he slowly edged himself off his friend's bunk and waddled over to Kowalski. He had a plan in mind to keep Skipper from leaving the zoo.

"Kowalski, is it possible to make an antidote for the ultra-serum?"

"Well, I already have some in stock in case things go badly, but I thought you said that Fred needed those traits the serum gave him?"

"I know Kowalski, but – well – it's giving all of us nightmares just to think about it, and I've never seen Skipper so sad before. He even told me of his nightmares, Fred marries Marlene, Julien dies, and Skipper gets transferred to Hoboken!"

"Hmm. Private, did it ever occur to you that Skipper may be _romantically_ attracted to Marlene?"

"What? No. I mean," he glanced over at the sleeping Skipper and sighed deeply. "Well, he might…"

"Don't tell Skipper, but I've been monitoring his emotional status since the whole Fred crisis, and I've even run a few scans. You know, the Lovulator and the physical stuff like the influx of emotions and respiration rates, but my point is – he may see Marlene as more of a friend now."

"Wait! _Skipper loves Marlene_?" Private said in a hushed whisper, and glanced behind him at the stirring Skipper. "Well, I kind of suspected."

"Look Private, and this may only be hypothetical, but there is a great possibility that if Marlene meets Fred again, she could – what is it? – fall in love with him, the sight of which could shatter Skipper's heart, not literally of course."

"Then that will cause him to leave the zoo. Oh no, we need to fix this! We need to keep Marlene from meeting Fred. Kowalski, you're a genius!" he said, hugging his hero.

"Yes, who doesn't think that!" he said sarcastically, waiting for Private to release him.

"Alright, I need the antidote for the serum for my plan to work. We may need to bring Rico along if it has any chance of working."

"Well what did you have in mi – " Kowalski began, but a wrenching sound of metal scraping on rock alerted them to the entrance of King Julien, interrupting him and causing Rico to scream and wake, and propelling Skipper into a battle stance.

"Helo der neighbor. Now, did you find my lovey potion?"

"Here…" said Kowalski, thoroughly bored and acting as if nothing happened as he glanced at Skipper. "It was under your bouncy."

"Ah. I am supposedly supposed to be thanking you penguins for it. Maurice!" he screamed to someone above the ladder. "Give to this penguin his reward!"

'Yes your majesty!" came the lemur's voice, followed by Mort's high-pitched squeal as he came tumbling down the rungs of the ladder, followed by a few overripe mangoes and a green banana, which all struck Mort's head.

"Yay! I like falling!"

"Ringtail! It's 7 AM, what are you doing waking up the whole city?" Skipper demanded, his eyes still bleary and red but glowing with anger.

"Nunya bisness silly penguin. All I know is that I finally have a date wid da lovely Marlene!"

Private leaned over to Kowalski and hushed, "Does the love potion really work?"

"Only if Marlene happens to be a baboon." He whispered back, and smiled at Private.

"Right." Came Skipper's voice. "Now you have your love potion, now LEAVE!"

A smug smile came from King Julien before he left, stepping on Mort on his way out. Mort had already eaten all of his food, including the unripe banana. "Mmm! I like mango!"

"Oh well, since we're all up, I suppose we can do some training? What do you say boys?"

During their training sessions, Private and Kowalski called for a break, which Skipper reluctantly agreed to, and discussed their plan with Rico. Rico smiled his evil grin, and resumed the training.

***Later On***

"Guys? Why did you bring me here?"

Fred slowly climbed down the ladder and into their habitat. It took him a while to work his way through the fish-bowl entrance, considering he was twice as wide.

"Oh nothing." Kowalski said invitingly. "Just wanted to chat with our good friend Fred! Maybe patch things up about yesterday. Rico?"

"Wha? Oh yah! Ahm soree…"

"See? Now is there anything you want to drink? A hot beverage? Tea, coffee, cocoa? Hmm?" Kowalski offered, presenting each option to Fred on a tray.

"Cocoa I guess. But thanks guys, you really didn't need to apologize. It's all good."

"Yes it is, isn't it?" Private said while Kowalski made a big show of adding 'sugar' to Fred's cocoa with his back turned. "Say Fred, would you like to watch the telly with me?"

As Kowalski set the cocoa spiked with antidote in front of Fred, the fish-head door burst open and flew off, almost flattening Rico, and the startled penguin spilled the cocoa on Fred. Kowalski stuttered an apology, which Fred waved off ('It's nothing, really…), but paused when he saw who had entered. It was Marlene, and she was lit up in rage.

"**KOWALSKI! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JULIEN AND A LOVE POTION!**" she screamed, charging at the startled penguin. Upon reaching him, she grabbed him and smashed him against the wall, which cracked and splintered where the penguin was struck upon it. Kowalski was too startled to speak or resist, even if he had the will to, he was no match for an angry Marlene.

"**WELL DO YOU**?" she repeated, shouting in his face and smashing him up against the wall again. Private was quaking in fear, and looked as if he was about to faint at her rage, and Rico screamed like a small girl and hid in the bunk beds, also shaking. Kowalski's mouth was gaping open and small stutters came out, which only angered the mad otter even more. Through all this, Fred stared at the two with a bored expression on his face, which was still on his face when he stood up and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey Marlene?"

"**WHAT!**" she roared, turning her head in the direction of the interruption. But upon seeing Fred, this time her mouth was the one that fell and started to stutter. She gazed at Fred for a long time, and Kowalski was still choked up in fear, not daring to wriggle out of her grasp while she was looking at the squirrel, even though his spine felt fractured into a million tiny pieces.

"F-F-F-Fred?" came a low croak from Marlene. "I-I-Is th-th-that y-you?"

"Yeah." He replied, still bored.

Now Private _did_ faint, and Rico covered his head with a pillow, still cowering underneath it. Marlene released Kowalski, who dropped like a doll with all its stuffing ripped out and whimpered more in fear than in pain.

"You look different." She whispered, walking towards the squirrel, her eyes wide and glassy.

"Yeah." He repeated, still bored.

"Did something happen to you?" she hushed, eyeing his face then his body, still with a shocked expression on her face.

"Yeah." Boredom ringing throughout the monosyllabic response.

"Hmmm, maybe I can give you another chance." She concluded, and took Fred's paw in her own and walked toward the fish-head tunnel entrance. She was obviously taking him to her habitat.

"What the deuce?" came a voice from above the fish-bowl entrance. "What's with all the yelling and the noise?"

Skipper lowered himself down the ladder and saw a sorry sight: Kowalski lay crumpled on the floor, the only sign of movement coming from his chest in labored breathing and tiny chunks of stone falling of from the spider-web cracks on the wall above him; Private was unconscious near the television, which was nothing but a broken box with a less-than-injured Mort inside, a few wires emitting sparks and whatever remained of the stuffed fish-head that concealed the tunnel pulverized the television and Mort in splinters around it; and a squealing, cowering lump that was obviously Rico underneath a pillow on the lowest bunk bed.

"What happened here?" he demanded. "Are we under attack? Is it Blowhole? Speak to me men!"

Summoning up the last vestige of courage he could, Rico unearthed his head from beneath the pillow and pointed at the tunnel near the entrance. Skipper turned to see what he was pointing at, and glimpsed the retreating forms of Marlene and the supersized Fred, her arm wrapped around his. Skipper's heart sunk to the lowest point possible, and fell right out of him. Compared to what he felt, Kowalski's fate looked like nothing short of a great birthday party.


	4. Chapter IV:To Break the Commando's Heart

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**BIG THANKS to Panacea447 with King Julien, to the AWESOME Miztah Han, and to Kowalski4Evah! for all the support. Get well soon, D_Rookie, we miss you =( **

**Also BIG THANKS to great reviewers! To Poette O'Deal, once again, and to xxAznPenguin. This chapter is a little depressing, I cried myself while writing it. Well, almost. Here you go (tissues at the ready!) ~Triksterr206 of the DrunkenTavern**

**Chapter IV: To Break the Commando's Heart**

Skipper watched as the one person he now hated more than anybody walked away with the love of his life. His heart felt wrenched out and trodden upon, and he slowly felt himself falling into an abyss, sadness his only companion. His vision faltered, surroundings blurred around him, and all he could see were the two, the larger of the two talking to the other. To him, it all sounded muffled and distant, like coming from deep underwater. He started to feel time slowing to a crawl, amplifying his despair a hundredfold, as he watched the hated squirrel open and close his mouth. He felt his body grow hot underneath his feathers, and felt it tear away from him, leaving him exposed, weak and vulnerable. He just wanted to wrench his gaze away from it all, to run, to leave it all behind, but his body continued to disobey him. The smaller one laughed at the last remark he made, the laughter cutting clear through his thoughts like a hot knife does through butter. Perhaps the only thing that dragged him back into reality was when he felt a presence in front of him, an _irritating _presence, something he wanted to rip away from him, tear it to pieces, and return to his bouts of despair.

Regret overwhelmed him that he didn't have the guts to ask Marlene out before Fred happened. It was all his fault, everything that happened was his fault. He _deserved_ the feelings of despair he felt now, all the pain, anguish, everything. He would have sunk deep into his bouts of self-loathing, had not that annoyance he felt earlier strengthen, and cut clean swath through his thoughts:

"_Hey silly penguin! Always look at da king when he is to be talking wid you!_"

Despair quickly turned into rage, which was soon replaced with a deep desire to squash this insignificant speck like the pest it was. His beak curled into a snarl, and he felt his flippers lift themselves of their own accord, and lunge at the air. His vision turned red as he felt it latch on to something. Instinctively, he tightened his hold around it, and pushed it with all the might and anger he could muster until he felt what he was holding slam into a wall. His head lifted itself, and his vision narrowed to see the pest before its life was extinguished. And as his vision and the red haze cleared, he gazed into the big, round, yellow eyes of it.

"Uhhh, okey, now you are looking at me, but – uhhh – this is a little too close for me and my comfortiness."

"Wha - ! Julien?"

"What? Of course silly penguin! Who else is da King?" replied the lemur, his voice growing more forced, and raspier.

His vision returned to normal and the snarl replaced with shock, he glanced down to see his flippers wrapped around Julien's throat like a vice, and he felt it tighten involuntarily. Although he wanted nothing more in the world than to end the evening dance parties with the music blasting at full volume once and for all, it was against every law he had set for himself, and as much as he hated him, he would never strike down a civilian, no matter how misguided or irritable it was. He eased his hold and released the blue-faced lemur, who fell to the floor gasping and spluttering for breath.

"Okey," he gasped amid a series of heavy panting. "Maybe next time, I'll just go wid da handshaking. No more huggies okey?"

"Ringtail, I'm sorry. I just had no idea –" Skipper's voice faltered as he helped Julien up. His distress was replaced by suspicion as he grabbed Julien's arm when he was on his feet. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"Uhhh, I wanted to have a little talk with the smarty penguin. The lovey potion he gave to me, was uneffective!" he said angrily, dusting himself off from Skipper's assault. He turned his head to look for Kowalski, when his eyes later fell on the depressing state of their home. "Whoa! Uhh, is dis a bad time?"

His eyes then fell on Kowalski, still whimpering in pain beneath the spiderweb-cracked wall. "Uhh, wer you doing dat too?", he said to Skipper, pointing at Kowalski. All Skipper could do was stare at it too, wondering how it even happened.

"Maybe I should come back later, you know, after you be fixing dis dump."

And with that, Julien left the habitat, murmuring things like 'crazy penguins' and 'shabby and silly'. Skipper continued to stare at the remains of his home, wondering how Fred smashed it to pieces and left with Marlene. A sharp pang resonated in his heart at the thought of it, and he busied himself instead.

He walked over to the cowering lump in his bunk and gave it a hard slap. Rubbing the side of his head, Rico fell out of the pillowcase he was taking refuge in. Upon seeing the glint in Skipper's eyes, he laughed nervously and kept glancing at the tunnel entrance, dreading the return of Marlene. Skipper walked over to Private, sighed, and shook him and patted the side of the penguin's beak. Slowly he came to, his eyes slowly opening and then widening at the sight of the tunnel. Private yelled and hid behind Skipper's back, still quaking. Sighing deeply to himself, he glanced over at Kowalski, who was slowly picking himself up by using the cracks on the wall for support. Skipper waddled over and placed Kowalski's flipper around his shoulders, and placed him on the bunk Rico was occupying earlier. Private shuddered in fear as he took a last glimpse at the tunnel.

"Skipper? What happened?"

"I don't know young Private. I just don't know."

***Later On***

A few hours had passed since Fred and Marlene had left their HQ, and they were able to repair most of their home. After cleaning up and repairing both walls in which Kowalski and Julien were slammed against, it looked even better than before. They were able to extract Mort, although without no great effort, from the destroyed television, and later replaced it with Alice's TV. It was nearly nightfall, and all of them felt tired. Kowalski still lay unconscious, and Rico kept jumping into the air at the slightest noises. Deciding it was good enough, Skipper approached the only penguin who knew what to do in these matters. He walked over to Private and walked him into the lab, and locked the door behind him.

"Skipper? What's going on? Why do you look so depressed?"

Skipper recounted every detail he could from what he felt earlier when he saw Marlene with Fred. All the emptiness he felt inside, all the self-loathing, even the part where he was so depressed he almost crushed Julien's windpipe. He also admitted to Private that he had had feelings for Marlene ever since the two had met on that fateful day she arrived from California, but he never had the guts to tell her what he truly felt.

"So I just hid behind this front: the unstoppable, unafraid, paranoid commando penguin just because I couldn't tell her what I felt. I'm such a coward!" he finished, breaking down into tears.

"Wow, Skipper. I didn't know you liked Marlene around that much." Private said, patting his leader's backside as he sobbed into Private's belly. "But you're still that unstoppable, unafraid, paranoid commando penguin that I admire, and you are no coward. Don't worry Skipper, we'll find a way to solve this. All we need are some options, and a big plan that has almost no chance of working."

"Thank you so much Private!" he continued to cry, hugging Private so tightly it almost crushed the young penguin's chest.

"Happy to be of help Skipper" he squealed, still in a death grip. "So you're not going to leave the zoo?"

Skipper stood up, wiped his tears and said "No, this madness ends now."

Skipper walked over to Marlene's habitat so he could finally tell her what he wanted to tell her so long ago. He puffed himself up, ready to tell her what he wanted – no – needed to tell her. Skipper stopped as he heard voices coming of inside her cave-home. It was Marlene, and Fred, who still had not left. He edged closer, and leaned against the rock wall of her cave, wanting to hear more.

"You know Fred, you've really changed! I'm so happy now that you're - well – you're different now."

"Yeah" came the boring drawl from Fred, to which Marlene paid no heed.

"You know? This might actually work now. It's great I met you Fred. You'll come by tomorrow again will you BooBoo?"

"Yeah."

Skipper broke down into tears again as he spied on Fred and Marlene's date. He shrunk into the shadows so Fred won't see him, he edged closer and peeked behind the corner. Through tear filled eyes, he caught Marlene hug Fred and then kiss him on the cheek. Now, he didn't have the guts to actually execute his plan.

Skipper imagined the possibilities of Fred beating him up in different ways if he dared to stand up to him, not to mention in front of Marlene. He went home, nothing more he could do at Marlene's, so he went to Private for more advice on love. Ever the helpful penguin, Private planned to give him therapeutic advice. However, during his session with Private which lasted over an hour, he just cried on the chair in different positions and continued sobbing as he recounted what happened when he went over to her habitat and saying how much he regretted letting Marlene go. After their session, Private couldn't help but be amazed at Skipper's vulnerability.

"Wow, Skipper. I didn't know that you were this sensitive."

Kowalski had finally awoken, and he listened closely to their discussion. Even Rico couldn't help but look up every once in a while brushing Miss Perky's already thin hair, his face mirroring the sadness of his leader. Kowalski felt sad for Skipper, interrupted his crying and finally told him of their plan to trick Fred into drinking the antidote, but in doing so they brought him right to Marlene. To his amazement, Skipper didn't blame Kowalski, but rather thanked him for it for making Marlene so happy to be with Fred.

"You know Skipper, it would actually just be easier if we trick Fred into drinking it again." Said a surprised Kowalski.

Skipper snapped and shouted "No! Taking away Marlene's happiness is not an option!"

"But Skipper, what will you do now?" whispered Private, his eyes too starting to cry.

"I'm letting her go. Since there's no way I can take away her happiness without taking away mine, I'm letting her go."

"Oh Skipper!" said Private, finally bursting into tears and hugging his leader more gently this time. "That's the most noble and romantic thing I've ever seen you do!"

Even Rico and Kowalski started to cry, all feeling the sadness Skipper felt.

"Yes, young Private.", sighed Skipper, returning the hug. "And when you grow up, you'll be facing the same decisions I'll have to make, except I won't be there with you."

"Wait!" Private pulled away from Skipper, surprise replacing sadness, "What are you saying Skipper?"

"Men," Skipper announced, wiping the tears away. "I'm leaving the zoo."


	5. Chapter V: Depressing Departures

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**Thanks again to reviewers! To Poette O'Deal (as usual), to Sky Fireheart, to Hazel the Rabbit and to Tropical Peach.**

**Chapter V: Depressing Departures**

"Men, it has been an honor serving this troop but you'll have to go on without me. Kowalski, you're in charge now." Skipper said as he was packing his suitcase, since he would no longer require Rico and his gut for storage. He placed several documents he deemed important into his suitcase, alongside several maps, a few rations bagged in plastic, a small blanket, and Skipper's Log.

"But Skipper, where will you go?" Private said as he was wiping his tears.

"Me? Wherever the Fates shall take me young Private. Don't worry, I'll be alright on my own." Skipper sighed as he snapped his suitcase shut. "I'll probably return to that condo in Japan, that suite in Norway, heck, maybe even Hoboken.

"Wait? What?" exclaimed Private, his eyes watering. "Hoboken! Why Hoboken?"

"With any luck, ol' Hans will still be there, waiting for me. At least I'll have a bit of action for a while, before I leave for another adventure."

"There's no way we'll let you leave Skipper!" Kowalski yelled amidst his sobs. "Not while there's a chance that we can still cure Fred and end this mess once and for all!"

Rico and Private nodded at the same time, unwilling for Skipper to go.

"You don't get it all, do you Kowalski?" whispered Skipper, his voice hushed and cold as he approached his former second-in-command until he was almost beak-to-beak with him, his voice ominously rising. "It doesn't end when Fred is cured. It doesn't end when he returns to his old dim-witted self. It doesn't end because he'll just ignore her because he's so downright stupid! It will only end when I die because I allowed the one thing that made Marlene truly happy go away!"

A snarl formed on his beak as he watched the tall penguin shrink and back away, squealing like a little girl. A manic glint reminiscent of the old Skipper flashed in his eyes, as he watched Kowalski cry.

"I-I-I-I'm so sorry Sk-Skipper. I just didn't know." He whimpered, still huddled up in the corner.

Skipper hefted his briefcase and set it down on his bunk. He jumped out of the habitat and went into the Zoo's Administration Office to check on the schedule of upcoming shipments to Hoboken. They were transporting several wolves to Central Park due to a technical malfunction in their habitat that caused the temperature to randomly shift. The wolves were scheduled to arrive at 6 pm tomorrow, just after the zoo closed. He looked at the list carefully again, and planned to leave for Hoboken on the return trip of the truck. His itinerary planned, he left the building and headed back to the home he would be leaving, only to be greeted by bloodshot eyed Private. Skipper sighed and opened his mouth to say goodbye, but was caught off guard when Private launched himself at Skipper. He looked down to see Private sobbing into his chest and clutching him like a cherished toy about to be taken away.

"Ski-huh-per! Ple-hees don't gohohoho!" he cried, his panting muffled due to his beak pressed against Skipper. Skipper smiled at him, although none too happily, and then started patting the young penguin's back.

"I know it's hard for you Private, but we all have our decisions to make."

He lowered himself and sat down, the youngling beside him doing the same as he clutched onto Skipper. He continued to lightly pat his back, his head leaning against that of his soon-to-be-distant friend.

"Bu-hut, Skip-huh-per." He looked up to meet Skipper's gaze, and winced as another pant made its way up his throat. Skipper stared into his bloodshot and swollen eyes. "Wa-huht about Alice? Wo-hon't she no-ho-tice you're mi-mi-missing?"

"Don't worry Private, I'm sure you boys will be able to work it out. Just place a toy I guess. Alice won't know the difference. Besides, she'll just put fish for four, so you won't go hungry."

"Pah-ha-lease, please, please do-hon't goho! We can't be a ha-team with-ha-out you Skip-ha-per!"

"It's alright Private. After I'm gone, maybe Kowalski will make a better leader than me. He is a genius after all."

"Wa-hat about Mahr-ha-leen?" He looked up again at Skipper. "Won't she be ha-worried that you-har gone?"

"With Fred beside her, she can just forget all about me." He said, leaving Private as his grip slackened and walked to the edge of the pool.

"But what about us? Don't you care about what we feel?" he said in a rather forceful tone as his sobs subsided, asserting himself.

"Of course I do Private." He turned around to see the youngling stand. "It's because I also care about you that I need to leave. I'll only endanger you."

"Endanger us? How?"

"If I stay here, I'll only be distracted since I'll just keep thinking of her and that'll just ruin the mission, where you must always be focused. Marlene is happy now, and that's all that matters. I'm leaving, for all your sakes."

"Bu-hut-!" He cried, the sobs returning as he watched Skipper slowly walk away.

"No more buts Private!" He said calmly but sternly. "Now go home. Kowalski should be wondering where you went, best not to keep him waiting."

"Ye-hes Ski-pah." Said Private, obeying what was going to be Skipper's final order.

"Sooner or later young Private," He said without turning around, looking up at the moon. "You'll see that what I've done is better for you, for all of you."

After hearing the fish-bowl hatch close behind him, Skipper jumped out of his habitat and decided to do some final sightseeing before he left New York, catching a last glimpse of his city. After some enjoyment, Skipper sent his last entry from New York on 'Skipper's Log' noting his last conquest.

"Skipper's log, 2149 hours, Central Park Zoo. I have taken one last tour of New York City. Scheduled time for departure is 1800 hours tomorrow. A pack of wolves from Hoboken is arriving via transport truck. Means of transportation secured."

Skipper dropped into the penguin habitat for his luggage that he left on his bunk. He jumped down the ladder to search for it, but until now, the three of them were still crying on each other. He just chuckled and found it quite amusing that they missed him so much even before he left. He picked up his suitcase, and turned around to watch them still crying. They were so caught up in their sobbing that they didn't notice the entry of what could've been an intruder.

"Kowalski!" Skipper shouted at the now-leader penguin. "I haven't even left yet and you've messed up in already three protocols!"

The other spun around to see Skipper, and immediately silenced themselves, watching their former leader through tear-filled eyes.

"Number one, you didn't even notice me enter! If that was Blowhole you'd all be dead. Number two, stop crying about me! You'll only be distracted and sooner or later the waterworks will overload and you'll just end up being sissy crybabies forever. And Number three, it's already 9:56! You should all be preparing for light's out at ten. Kowalski, I thought I left you in charge?"

"Aye aye sir!" sobbed Kowalski as he dried his tears.

"Nope. There is no 'sir' sir. From now on, it's just Skipper." Said Skipper as he climbed the ladder and left their headquarters, headed for the Zoovenir Shop for some sleep.

Kowalski was uncomfortable being addressed as 'sir', especially since he's served with Skipper for so long. Nevertheless, he wouldn't disobey the last orders Skipper gave him. Soon, they were settled in their bunks as the lights went out. However, none of them were able to sleep, they were all just thinking about Skipper, recalling memories of past missions and operations. Kowalski sighed at the memory of what he thought was a zombie and how he was outraged that the 'zombie' didn't go after him. Rico smiled when he remembered waking up in a destroyed lemur habitat and being carried by Skipper home. Private gave an audible chuckle as recounted how Skipper thought he was dead when he brought home the big tail of the Skorca. Unable to bear it any longer, Rico erupted into a fit of misery as he burst into tears. Kowalski would have followed, if Private had not jumped out of bed and asserted himself once more.

"No!" He shouted and Rico stopped. "No more crying! Skipper wouldn't have cried all day just because of this. No! We have to stop Skipper from leaving."

"But you heard him Private." Kowalski jumped out of bed too. "There's no way we can stop him from leaving. He's convinced that if he leaves, we'd be better off without him, which of course, is highly untrue. What? Do you want us to chain him up and bring him to Marlene?" Instantly, chains protruded from Rico's beak as he stepped down from his bunk.

"No, there is another way. We just have to subtle on this one. I have a plan. Kowalski?"

"Options time?" he whispered giddily. "Come on, say it!"

"Alright. Kowalski! Options!"

"**OH YEAH! BACK IN THE GAME BABY!**"


	6. Chapter VI: Conflict

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**Ahh Writer's block! So glad it only lasted so short. Thanks to miztah Han, as always, and to reviewers Sky Fireheart, xxAznPenguin, Poette O'Deal and to Storylover Alpha 01. It might take me a while to update on the next chapter though, writer's block is a pest ***

**~Triksterr206, Junior Member, DrunkenTavern**

**Chapter VI: Conflict**

Marlene hummed beneath her breath as the _Für Elise_ playing from her stereo added a bit of music to the dismal background. She was sprucing up her home since Fred would be coming back for their date later at six. She finished dusting the cabinets that were crammed into a corner, and went on to mop the floor. As she picked up the mop, something was caught on the edge of her eye. Looking up, she saw it was a picture she took of Fred, the new Fred, as she had come to call him, yesterday. Walking toward it, she wondered how this bumbling idiot was transformed into this dreamboat. She swooned as she thought of the change that happened, but something within her nagged at her thoughts. She remembered how doubtful she was that the Lovulator wouldn't work and Kowalski's hysteria when it did fail. Perhaps science could never decide true love. Skipper and his team tried to set her up, and how did that turn out? Julien tried to fight for her, but only messed it up himself.

She sighed and leaned onto a wall, picking up the photo of Fred as she did so. She gazed into it for a while, and started thinking. Do I really love Fred, or do I love what he has become? It all seemed strange to her, love, despite all her understanding of it, it confused her at times. She dropped the picture of Fred and thought of Julien, the lemur's face blossoming into her mind as the photo lightly floated to the ground. Julien, the self-proclaimed lemur king was in love with her, seeing as how he screamed it out to her yesterday morning. She considered Julien to be too egocentric and self-absorbed for anyone to love, but there he was, proclaiming love to someone other than himself. Perhaps Julien really _has_ changed, and he meant what he had said.

Her thoughts drifted over to his right-hand man, Maurice. She was empathetic towards his suffering, the fact that he willingly obeyed every nonsensical whim Julien gave him made her feel pity for the aye-aye. She even wondered how Mort and Maurice had not given up on him the moment he asked them to carry him all over the zoo. She sighed deeply, still thinking about the lemur's confession of love. Guilt stabbed her heart as she remembered what she had said to his heartfelt declaration. But then he had that stupid love potion to try on her, and how did that turn out? Baboons were chasing her all over the zoo when he tried to spray it onto her. Love potions, and Lovulators, if only Kowalski had not bothered at all with … with …

Kowalski? Thoughts about the strategist penguin flooded into her mind as Julien faded away. True, he was likely to over think things, nevertheless they were still able to become friends. She winced as she recalled how she had almost _pulverized_ him against the wall. Her thoughts then drifted over to Private, young and cheerful, he was the most similar to Marlene out of all of them; and Rico, well, that was a different story. Skipper's face then materialized in her head, taking her utterly by surprise. She remembered all his ramblings about how women were weak compared to men, his paranoia, that pompous attitude he had, it was all so annoying just to think of him. And yet, it wasn't so. Her thoughts drifted back to Fred as laughter bubbled forth from her throat. It was so silly to think of these things now when she ought to be cleaning, Fred would be arriving in half an hour. Still laughing, she picked up her mop and continued her work. So caught up was she in her thoughts about love that she didn't notice the shadows stir about her.

The laughter soon faded away as she silently continued on with her work, and yet the shadows moved again. This time she froze, her perception catching faint traces of movement in her home. Her paws tightened their grip on the mop handle, prepared to defend herself if it came to that. Could it be rats? They were always trying to sneak up at night to steal food or supplies. There it was again! No, it couldn't be rats, since the shadows moved about with blinding speed with a hint of deadliness. She had half a mind to run and call Skipper, but no, it probably wasn't anything at all, and he would just laugh and tell her to calm down. She nervously laughed to herself, maybe Skipper's paranoia was starting to get to her. Yes, that was probably it. A few moments later, she found out she was dead wrong. She opened her mouth to scream and possibly to run, but her shout was silenced as they were upon her.

***Same time, somewhere else…***

"Ahh good Maurice! Now dat de baboons have stopped chasing the lovely Marlene, we can now ask the smarty penguin to make anuder one!" said Julien as he hopped on his bouncy, propelling him upward once more.

"Your majesty, you really think a love potion is going to work?" asked the Aye-Aye, three feet below King Julien.

"Of course Maurice? Why wood you not be tinking so?"

"Since you already gave Mort away in an effort to date Marlene, and how did that turn out? Come on, you don't even miss him just a little?"

"Do not be worrying Maurice! I'll just be stealing him back when the silly penguins go sleepy. Ah, my foot is itching to kick that annoying Mort!"

"Love potions don't work your Majesty! It's just pure romantic fiction."

"Ah, but Maurice, don't you know dat da lovey potion is working! Did you see how dose baboons were chasing my girlfriend?"

"She isn't your girlfriend!" screamed Maurice. "Uh, yet, your majesty." He added in response to Julien's stare.

"I am to be having an idea!" announce Julien as he got off the bouncy after one final leap. "Girly-girls like da flowers don't dey Maurice? I'll just go ovah der, then pick up a bunch for my lovely Marlene!"

Julien leapt over the concrete wall of his habitat as he made his way to the Administration office, where Alice always placed a few flowers in a vase.

"Something tells me this isn't gonna end well." Sighed the Aye-aye as he settled down on the bouncy for a quick nap.


	7. Chapter VII: Deperate Measures

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**Here's the next chapter, sorry the previous one was so short (writer's block and all ). BIG BIG BIG THANKS to Kowalski4Evah! and her story 'Uprising' for overcoming my writer's block, her plot gave me great ideas for this chapter and the next. Thanks to reviewers Storylover Alpha 01 (Hopefully, this chapter will answer some questions, but the conundrum probably won't be solved until the next), xxAznPenguin, Poette O'Deal (so sweet of you!) and to noname. I'll try to update soon if homework or the dreaded writer's block doesn't get in the way. To quote Panacea447, peace out 'yo!**

**~Triksterr206, Junior Member, DrunkenTavern**

**Chapter VII: Desperate Measures**

Skipper leaned his head against his suitcase, watching the clouds above the Zoovenir shop roll by the setting sun. He normally would have had Rico use a grappling gun, but he had to get used to not having him and his gut around whenever it suited him. He placed his flippers behind his head and enjoyed the few minutes he had left in the zoo. In but a few moments, he would leave it all behind. Although he was sad he had to leave his love, he couldn't willingly deprive her of her happiness, no matter what source it came from. All was peaceful and calm - or it would've been if something heavy had not landed on Skipper's belly and winded him, leaving him wheezing in pain.

Skipper turned to see what had landed on him as his eyes began to water in pain. He saw it was a brick, from a loose wall or from an enclosure or pen. '_Who in the name of Amelia Earhart would be throwing bricks up a roof?_' he thought to himself as he waddled over to it. Upon further inspection, he noticed there was a piece of paper hastily fastened to it. Suspicious paranoia and paranoid suspicion perking up, he made to investigate, still rubbing his painful belly, but paused when he saw a piece of paper hastily wrapped around it. Unraveling it, he saw it was a note, in a neat script despite the ragged state of the paper it was written on. Reading it, his eyes widened in alarm as he scanned every word:

'_Hello Skipper._

_Long has it been since we've last seen each other, but know that in that time, none of my hatred and anger and wrath has diminished, not for one second. And now my time for revenge is at hand. I have abducted your girl, Skipper, and she is in my grasp, all bound and gagged. Oh how I relish the chance to face you once again in battle, but alas I have some other revenges to carry out. Pity, pity, pity. It is indeed quite heartbreaking that I couldn't get to witness my newest creation torture and kill her, but of course, duty calls. If you want to save her, and I know you will, seek her out inside the Reptile House. I wouldn't pass up an opportunity for my creation to kill two birds with one stone; but to be more accurate, two pests with one missile. How I wish you could hear my laughter fill your ears as your insignificant life is extinguished once and for all! _

_With spite and vengefulness, Doctor Blowhole, PhD'_

Skipper stared at the letter incredulously, not wanting to believe any part of it. Marlene? Captured by Blowhole? There was no way that could have happened, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Closing his eyes as shock quickly turned into fury. He crumpled up the note in his flippers and tossed it away, allowing the breeze to take it to whatever trash bin it came from. His beak curved into a snarl, and his flippers clenched and unclenched in anger. When he opened his eyes, there were no traces of law and decency, only a manic glint that spoke of his desire to find Blowhole and pound him flat for what he had done. All thoughts of the crate of wolves from Hoboken and plans to leave the zoo completely vanished from his mind, there was no way he'd just stand around and leave Marlene in his archnemesis' clutches. For all of the mad dolphin's schemes, this particular one crossed the line, and a scream that echoed across the zoo burst forth from his maw,

"**CURSE YOU BLOWHOOOOOOOOOOLE!"**

Panting more in rage than a need for breath, he jumped towards a nearby lamppost and slid his way down to the ground. Landing none too gently, he slid on his belly over to the reptile house nearby. Blowhole always had the tendency to blab out his plans, and that worked to Skipper's advantage. Finally reaching the door, he pushed against it, only to find it was locked from the inside. Skipper growled in impatience, searching for another way in. A few moments later, he caught sight of an auxiliary ventilation duct. He tried to tug it open, but it was fastened with a quartet of bolts, one on each corner, and he came to no avail. Desperate, he pulled it with as much force as he could muster; not wanting to let Blowhole succeed with his plan, but it had the same result as before. He had failed; he had failed Marlene, and therefore himself; imagining Marlene screaming in pain, the thought of which propelled him into frenzy. He _would not_ allow it happen, not while he still breathes. Screaming with renewed fury, he grabbed the edges and finally wrenched the vent aside. Not even bothering to waste a precious second pondering his newfound strength, he stepped inside and moved as if the gods themselves were on his tail.

He reached a junction where the vent turned upwards, and began climb the vent as a surge of adrenaline was released into his system. Despite all the ferocity he felt, he still managed to clear his head long enough to estimate himself to be halfway to another exit shaft he had mapped out earlier, which was directly above the main entrance of the Reptile House. Reaching the end of his ascent, he slid on his belly towards a junction, and then took the left that led to the exit shaft. All his thoughts were focused on whether Marlene was still alive, and what sort of creation Blowhole spoke of. If Marlene died at the hands of that monstrosity, he would smash it to pieces, and then hunt Blowhole down, even if it took him the rest of his life, and to the ends of the earth. If Marlene was still alive, then, maybe he would finally have the courage to tell her what he truly felt for her, at least she would know before he left the zoo.

'_Please, please, please don't let me be too late. I need to save her!_'

Skipper egged himself on upon seeing beams of light illuminating the darkness above the exit shaft. With renewed hope, he repeated the belly slide and shot himself like a bullet towards the light. However, it wasn't going to be that simple. The beams of light were distorted by an odd circular motion, almost like…

'_Drat! Looks like Alice installed a new fan.'_

Reaching it, he looked down to size up the fan, which turned out to be another problem. Each of the rotating blades looked about a foot long, and were spinning so rapidly they could slice him in half if he tried. Skipper was angry and desperate, yes, but he was no fool to even attempt such a fatal maneuver. The light emanating from beneath it broke as a blade cut its path, splintering the radiance into an almost dazzling display. Skipper looked beneath the fan and the metallic grille beyond it, trying to find Marlene, and any signs of life she was still alive. After a few seconds of searching, he found her. Tied up in chains that were suspended from a pipe in the fire alarm system, she hung limp a few feet above the ground. Still, there was no sign of the creation Blowhole spoke of. Did he send his ninja-lobsters in? Or did he send the finally perfected Chrome Claw?

"**MARLENE!**" he shouted, unaware Marlene could not hear him.

Skipper eyed his surroundings, searching for anything he could use to jam the fan. Seeing nothing in the dark ventilation shaft, although he wouldn't expect anybody to put anything in a ventilation shaft, he spluttered in desperation. Any moment now, that dreaded invention of Blowhole would rip her to shreds, and he would be up here watching, unable to do anything to save her. No, he wouldn't allow that to happen, there was no place for doubt or panic in his mind, only quick and decisive action. But there was nothing inside this ventilation shaft. '_Wait, inside…_' Skipper opened his beak and gasped and spluttered in effort. He remembered eating only so long ago, wanting one last meal before he departed.

'_Curse you Rico! How is this so easy for you?_' he muttered beneath his breath.

He repeated the action, straining both himself and his body for one last hope to save Marlene. He felt his belly stir, clearly in discomfort. He had never actually done it before, but he had a clear idea what he were supposed to do. He gagged again, droplets of saliva escaping his wide beak and splattering all over the shaft. He heard Marlene's distorted moan as it passed through the fan. '_No…_' Refusing to give up, Skipper strained with all the will power he possessed; hoping, just hoping that…

With a final grunt, his particularly large lunch found its way out his mouth. No longer in the military, he surrendered to one shot at whimsy before he left the zoo, and swallowed whole the largest fish he pilfered from the zoos storage before they cut it up. Holding it carefully in his raised flippers, he narrowed his vision, and focused. His heart thumped rapidly in knowing full well he only had one shot at this, he cleared his thoughts, and steadied his aim. Finding that small gap where a blade's edge and the metal casing almost met, he threw it with expert aim, and propelled himself into a Leap of Faith, pushing with all his might against the thin metal grille as he fell. The blades jammed, Skipper went through, the fish snapped, and the blades resumed their deadly dance. Amidst a shower of partly-digested fish, Skipper landed on the floor, head bowed, and prepared to meet his fate…

***Somewhere else…***

King Julien pushed the window aside and made his way inside the Zoo Administration office. Alice was nowhere to be seen, and he took advantage of it. His eyes falling on the carefully placed roses inside a glass vase on the countertop, the lemur smiled and raised himself above the window. Jumping to the counter, he turned his crowned head and eyed the flowers. Picking up the bunch and arranging them to his liking; Julien smiled to himself and thought about how Marlene would react to him holding a pretty bunch of flowers. He took a step forward without looking, and slipped on the droplets of water from the stolen roses, skidding on the finely polished wooden desk and slamming into the vase. He cried in surprise, as he fell, the vase smashing on the tiled floor with distinct noise. His fur now soaking wet, King Julien picked himself up and glanced at the flowers. Finding the flowers unruffled, Julien exited the way he had come, jumping down the window to be bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun.

"Oh, Marlene my Queen, how will you be saying no to me, your magnificent and one and da only King? Hey, be waiting a minute. Hmm, 'Marlene my Queen'? That's rhyme-y. I could be writing a poem for her, then she won't be turning me down! Okey, what is rhyme-y wid 'otter'?

Seeing a patch of flowers Alice had planted just outside the office, Julien looked to the bunch in his hand. Deciding it wasn't enough for his soon-to-be-queen; he strode over and picked up some of the flowers. He turned his head and saw a wooden sign next to it. It had an illustration of a hand touching the flowers and a circle with a diagonal line running down its surface.

"Ah, even the wooden billboard is aware of my affection for Marlene. It's even telling me to get more flowers for her. Hey, be waiting a minute."

He scoffed and started poking the sign.

"No one is to be telling da King wat to do. Only da King tells da peoples wat dey are supposedly to be doing! But I tink you are right, I need more of da pretty flowers. Yes, maybe a white one."

Upon seeing more patches of flowers around the zoo, Julien strode from patch to patch, adding flowers to the already massive bunch in his hands, whispering beneath his breath,

"_Oh Marlene, will you be my queen?_

_You are lovelier than an angel,_

_The most beautiful I have seen,_

_With perfect eyes, of perfect hazel._"


	8. Chapter VIII: Showdown

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**BIG Thanks again to Kowalski4Evah! and her story 'Uprising' for the inspiration for this chapter and clearing the dreaded writer's block. Thanks to reviewers, Storylover Alpha 01 (**So sweet of you. That means a lot to an eleven-year old like me!**), noname, Poette O'Deal and xxAznPenguin (then prepare to be surprised!). I was finally able to beat my word record, so this might be a little longer than usual. Oh, Please note that I changed the rating to Teen (T) because of the violence. **

**~Triksterr206, Junior Member, DrunkenTavern**

**Chapter VIII: Showdown**

"Marlene," Skipper whispered to the prone form suspended by chains. "Marlene, are you alright?"

Skipper jumped and caught the dangling end of the chain, and climbed it to come in front of Marlene, his right flipper supporting him as he held onto the chains that hung from the pipe above, his scaly feet trying to maintain their balance on the makeshift ledges where it opened up. Staring at her face, he dared to lay his other flipper on the side of her face. She looked so peaceful, so serene, almost as if she was…

'_No, no, no, no… She can't be dead! She can't be!_'

His eyes filling with tears as he slowly closed them; his head leaned forward involuntarily, and after a few seconds, felt his beak make contact with her cheek. Tears flowed from his eyes as he opened them, gazing at her calm expression, and her eyes that would never open again. He broke his kiss, just as grief washed over him with the force of a tidal wave. He leaned his head onto hers, unable to believe it. A part nagged at him that he had to let her go, that emotions were a weakness, and that _he _was weak. He screamed out all his sorrow, all his grief, and all his rage, at the world around him. He wanted to be with her, just to feel her near him one last time, before she faded into a very painful memory; but a menacing laugh behind him convinced him otherwise,

"_I knew you would find your way here … eventually. Nice to see you again, Skipper._"

"_Blowhole_."

Skipper turned his head as he growled the name of Marlene's killer, his vision turning red as it did when he had almost strangled Julien. He growled in a cold voice of pure rage, and pure venom, in a voice that was devoid of any sense of decency or order, a voice that wanted blood.

"_Tut tut. Depressed are we? Sad our little love wasn't meant to last … or even begin for that matter?_"

His eyes fell on what he assumed was the creation Blowhole spoke of. It wasn't ninja-lobsters, or Chrome Claw for that matter; it was something entirely new to Skipper, something he always thought Blowhole would bring out one of these days: a robot. Clearly designed by the mad dolphin, the mechanical behemoth was thrice as tall as Skipper; its massive torso was about four times as wide, covered in chrome-class metal plating, and supported by two digitigrade legs whose stubby feet had three toes, two in front and one at the back, ending in deadly-looking talons. The thin arms supported a three-fingered fist on the right, and a menacing drill on the other that appeared capable of boring a hole right through him. Despite all the hatred and rage that now surged through Skipper like a white-hot tide, he sensed that his chances to beat such a monstrosity were very slim to nonexistent.

"You'll pay for what you've done." He growled once more, jumping off and landing in front of the robotic leviathan. The metal plating on the chest parted to reveal a monitor that displayed the evil smile on the scarred of face of his archenemy.

"_You know, I almost cried at the thought of not witnessing your demise; but then I remembered installing this into my newest piece of mayhem. I was quite relieved, since now I can witness every second of your agony before I do the same with your friends. I particularly loved the moment you shouted out right after you kissed her; I could sense all your anger, all your hate. Could we get a second take of that? My angle wasn't really so good. What do you say we upload it on the internet? Hmmm? I might just win an E-Drama award…_"

Intense hatred rose up inside Skipper, threatening to drive him into a full blown rage. It shattered his heart into myriad pieces when he had come too late to save her, and here that maniac was, mocking him with it as he played a recording of Skipper's cry of anguish. That was the last straw, and so he allowed all the anger and hatred to build up within him to a fever pitch, and then released it in battle cry of fury and sorrow. He charged at the giant; all thought of his opponent's unknown capabilities completely vanished as the red haze that filled his vision intensified. He heard maniacal laughter emanating from the twisted dolphin as he dodged the drill that came to meet his charge, countering with a strike from his flippers against the monitor on the torso. It resulted to nothing except some throbbing on his flipper. Landing behind the behemoth, he cradled his injured flipper, trying to think clearly in spite of the bloodlust. The armor was just too thick to be dealt with directly; he needed to find its vulnerability.

"_Now, now Skipper. Do you want to fight, or just play hide and seek?_"

The mechanized giant's torso swiveled to look behind it, trying to find Skipper. A split-second later, it reared its ugly triangular head and aligned the target with its line-of-sight, the three red orbs on its head lighting up in response. Almost instantly, a hatch opened on its left shoulder, and a launcher filled with innumerable missile pods emerged as a targeting laser deployed from the 'eyes' of the robot. Its beam fell on the penguin, and the missile pods rocketed towards him as he slid on his belly in a serpentine motion, avoiding the missiles while more erupted from the leviathan.

"_Gah! Hold still will you!_"

Fortunately, the missiles weren't of the tracking type, but what they lacked in that aspect, they made up for in sheer numbers. Skipper was hard pressed to avoid each missile as more and more rocketed towards him, and the ones that missed him exploded on the floor, sending shards of shattered tiles into a storm of debris.

"_Grrr! Just let me kill you! You know it'll happen sooner or later, and then you'll be able to join her._"

The words stung Skipper deeply, and thoughts of Marlene clouded his mind, muting the sound of rockets flying and exploding, and seeing the face of the one he had ever truly loved. It was entirely his fault. If only he had had the courage to have told her what he had truly felt for he, at least she would have known of his love before she died. His trance of guilt and pain came to an abrupt stop as a missile exploded a few inches away from his side, sending him flying to the left, the sounds of war thundering around him. Exhausted of its missile supply, Blowhole's invention turned its legs to align with its torso. In doing so, Skipper spotted its weakness: its size was taxing its mobility heavily, and he had to exploit it.

"_Why not just surrender yourself to oblivion Skipper? If you give in now, I might just spare you the sight of me torturing your friends into a painful, agonizing death. Come on, give up. Sooner or later, you'll mess up, and wouldn't it be easier to just give up now?_"

Despite the red haze of hatred and anger, Skipper couldn't deny sensing the truth in the dolphin's words. He could also sense that the missiles were merely the first of what was to come, and it had already taken a heavy toll on his energy reserves. As much as he was skilled in battle, it wasn't physically possible to keep fighting like this. Still, he wasn't one to give, and he slowly rose from his position on the ground. He raised his flippers in a combat stance, much to Blowhole's annoyance. His raised flippers filling his red-tinged vision, he noticed several cuts and bruises lining the limbs. He felt pain all over his body, concentrated on the side which received the brunt of the explosion. He felt a stinging pain on his side, and looked down to see a shard of the tiled floor embedded on his side, blood oozing out of the wound and matting with his feathers as red clashed with white. Adrenaline did its best to keep the pain at bay as Skipper reached down, and with a grunt of pain, pulled the jagged shard out of his side, throwing it away. The smashing sound it made barely registered in his senses, as he felt a growing numbness on his side. He knew that all his inner strength and will power could only last so long against such a machine. Nevertheless, he wouldn't give up, not now, not ever. He would avenge his beloved, or die trying.

"_So predictable aren't you Skipper? So be it!_"

Blowhole savored every moment of agony Skipper went through, clearly relishing his opponent's pain. The camera installed in the red orbs on the mechanical head continued to feed data to the controlling dolphin sitting comfortably in a chair so far away, as he pressed one of the numerous buttons on his control panel. Another hatch on the opposite shoulder opened up, and a rather large laser gun appeared on it, charging and ready to blow the tired penguin to smithereens. The targeting laser on its head pinpointed Skipper's position, and a blast shot forth from the laser. The agile penguin leapt above it, splattering droplets of blood and made toward the monstrosity as the laser continued to track him, leaving scorch marks on the already heavily damaged floor. Skipper reached the base of the machine, hiding underneath its wide torso thus avoiding the bright-red laser, and started hitting the leg joints with all the force he could summon, despite the growing pain on his right side.

"_Hey! Get away from there you little son-of-a-!_"

The leg swiveled in a roundhouse, trying to catch Skipper in its range, the torso remaining in place while the lower half rotated, trying to strike Skipper. The penguin reacted instantly. Evading the roundhouse, Skipper leapt and grabbed onto a finger, swinging himself upward. Using it to channel his momentum, he flipped and aimed a strong but swift kick to the metallic head. With a satisfying sound of breaking glass, the strike met its mark, and the two of giant's eyes were broken, the red light fading from the damaged mechanisms. Landing a few feet away from the partially blind machine, Skipper placed a flipper on his side, feeling the strength diminish as easily as how Marlene had once siphoned all his strength to reduce him to nothing but a crybaby not so long ago.

"_Little rodent! That was a lucky strike! Merely a setback, though, merely a setback; I gave you the chance to surrender, even the chance of a painless death, even the chance to see your girl in the next life! But now it's too late for that._"

Skipper could sense he wouldn't last long now, as blood now gushed freely from his side, and his vision started to blur. The red haze dimmed and Skipper dropped on one knee, both flippers on the wound to try and stem the tide of crimson life that now pooled on the floor. He could see the machine straightening, the monitor showing Blowhole pressing buttons on his control panel. He could make out drops of his blood staining the shiny chrome plating as his senses started to recede from his mind.

The commando's eyes started drooping, the darkness starting to take him. Still, he wouldn't give up so easily. Rising from his kneeling position, he lifted his head and focused his vision on what would soon be his death. Sensing his will power overwhelming his disorientation, he raised his bloodstained flippers in defiance. He parted his scaly feet, completing the combat stance. Focusing all his inner strength on his last stand, he narrowed his vision and saw the laser emerge once more, and started to power up. Aware that even though he had crippled its targeting system, he was very doubtful that he could evade the blast to come. Feeling himself slipping into lightheadedness, the dolphin's voice sounded distorted and eerie, as if coming from the depths of the ocean.

"_Farewell Skipper. You have always been a worthy opponent; I feel I'm almost going to miss you…_"

"_Marlene, my love forever and always,_" came Skipper's labored and last breaths. "_I come for you…_"

The laser had fully charged, and was about to blast the injured penguin into oblivion. Unwilling to die appearing so weak, Skipper stared into death's eyes: one black and filled with coldness; the other red, mechanical, and utterly soulless. Blowhole pressed another button, and the laser primed, he wouldn't want to miss. Skipper clamped his beak tight, straining to hold his stance despite his draining strength.

"_Goodbye, peng-you-in!_"

"_I come for you…_"

***BOOOOOOOOM!***

Blowhole faltered in surprise as an explosion rocked the entire reptile house. Skipper was also caught unaware, and he turned his head to source of the explosion: the cracked and damaged wall to his left. After a brief pause, a second, more powerful explosion boomed, and the wall crumbled as clumps of stone and concrete battered the two fighters. Blowhole looked just as shocked as Skipper, staring into the dark expanse of night stretching beyond the wide hole as three figures leapt in.

"_Gah! What fresh hell is this!_?"

"**EAT THIS BOTTLENOSE!**"

His will power finally faltering, Skipper fell backward, the last of his life-force spent. His vision blurred, and his senses numbed. The last thing he would feel was the body he would be leaving soon hitting the hard, cold concrete floor – but he didn't. Instead he felt two soft but strong flippers catch him as he fell, and Private's soothing and distorted voice echoing in the depths of his mind.

"_I gotcha Skipper … I gotcha._"

...


	9. Chapter IX: Subsistence

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**Finally got Chapter 9 out. Writer's block really is havoc on me. Our Rookie is all better and he'll back to writing in no time! Thanks to reviewers xxAznPenguin, noname, Poette O'Deal, Hanzo of the Salamander, Anonymous (so sweet XD!), Kowalski4Evah! (Of course I did! You too!) and to HarleyQuinn (i try my best!). **

**~Triksterr206  
><strong>

**Chapter IX: Subsistence**

"Maurice! Maurice, be waking up now! Your King, which is I, me, and myself, am commanding you to be waking up."

Maurice jerked himself awake, through sleepy eyes; he realized night had already fallen, and that King Julien had already returned. The tired aye-aye slowly got to his feet and rubbed his eyelids with his hands, trying to shrug sleepiness off and attend to his King.

"Your Majesty, I -" Maurice started, but was cut off by a huge yawn that erupted from his mouth. "I didn't know you were home already. So how was your flower spree?"

"Good news Maurice! I am now having da appropriate number of flowers to be proposing to my Marlene!"

"Wait? What? You're proposing!"

Startled, the right-hand man turned to gaze at the lemur in awe, but Julien was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an array of flowers roughly twice as large as him greeted the startled advisor's eyes. Julien's voice came from behind the bunch as rich laughter bubbled forth.

"What are you to be expecting Maurice? Da Queen has to be married to da King, of course!"

Surprise overcame drowsiness as Maurice studied the amount of flowers Julien had collected. There were various flowers all mixed in, beautifully arranged to create a dazzling display as colors melded into an artful masterpiece. Clearly this was the reason as to why Julien had returned home so late. Sudden curiosity sprung up in his mind, and he made towards the concrete wall that separated Julien's kingdom from the rest of the zoo.

"**OH DANG!**"

Not many hours ago, Maurice's eyes had fallen on beautiful patches blossoming with flowers, all products of Alice's hard work and toil. Now, they were all barren, not as much as a single blade of grass on the vacant patches. Maurice slowly turned to look at King Julien, or rather, the flowers that concealed him. He was wondering how Alice would react to such an incident where the only thing that gave her boring job a little bit of color all vanished.

"I know I've said it before, but, this is _not_ going to end well…"

***Somewhere else***

"_**KOWALSKI! **__Kowalski, we're losing him!_"

Skipper's vision continued to blur as keeled over on Private, the young penguin trying his best to support his former leader's failing state. Through half-closed lids, he was able to make out Rico and Kowalski furiously attacking the mechanical behemoth while dodging its attacks. Rico weaved in and out of Blowhole's attacks, while regurgitating bombs every now and then, all which were almost ineffective against the near-invulnerable chrome plating; and Kowalski was idly jotting things down on his clipboard, looking up every now and then to dodge an incoming roundhouse or laser blast. Despite his weakness, annoyance coursed through him at the sight of Kowalski's 'combat stance'. Skipper's eyes jerked open when he saw the drill on the robot's left arm miss Rico by a feather, the psychotic penguin responding by sending a volley of bombs at the robot's behind in anger. His vision swam, and as his eyes refocused, he could see the tall form of Kowalski beside him, studying his condition.

"_No! Vital signs are dropping. No, he's just lost too much blood! Rico, the serum!_"

The sound of Rico's regurgitating barely registered to Skipper's near-dead senses; nor did any of the explosions, Private's worried yells, or Blowhole's snarls. He knew he could no longer deny the fact that he _was_ going to die; that he was finally going to join Marlene in what he presumed was the next life.

"_Private! Hold his head up or else he might choke on it._"

Skipper felt his head slowly lifted upwards as pain radiated all throughout his system. Private was aware of all his pain, the boy could practically _sense_ it. He slowly supported Skipper's head with a loving and gentle manner, afraid Skipper might break if he wasn't gentle. Skipper's vision refocused, his icy blue eyes meeting Kowalski's sapphire ones, and could read all the worry that the strategist now experienced. Kowalski nervously placed his flipper on Skipper's beak and slowly made to open it wider, but jerked it away as Skipper started coughing up blood. All sensations receded from his body, the numbness coming from his side replacing all feeling from his body. Every sound around him became even more distorted, and he could barely make out Private's whimpering, let alone the words Kowalski said.

"_He … punctured … lung!_"

What was left of Skipper's will power finally ebbed away, no longer powerful enough to keep Death from claiming the once-stalwart penguin. As his vision slowly started turning to white, he felt Kowalski's flipper on his beak, and something hot and liquid trickle down his throat. He could no longer feel the numbness that overcame him; in fact, he could no longer feel anything. All he could hear were Private's anguished cries, yelling his name; and Kowalski's whispered pleading.

"_**SKIPPER! SKIPPER, DON'T LEAVE ME! SKIP-HA-PER!**_**"**

With tremendous effort, Skipper turned his head, and with his last ounces of concentration, and felt himself slowly being lowered; and caught what were going to be the last words he heard before Death took him.

"_It's okay Private, I'll take over. Go on, help Rico. Private, please, go on._"

"_**NOOO! NO, I'M NOT HA-LEAVING HIM KOWALSKI! I CA-HA-N'T!**_"

"_It's alright Private. It'll be fine, just go and help Rico. Come on…_"

"_**BU-HUT-**_"

"_Private! Go help Rico! That's an order!_"

Skipper's body was slowly lowered and placed gently on the concrete floor. He could sense Private's departing presence as the muffled sounds of war escalated momentarily when he heard Private's distorted battle cry; he had never heard the young penguin cry out like that before. Skipper smiled inwardly at what Kowalski had done; and felt that Private was still too young to experience or even comprehend death, especially that of a loved one. This was it then, the moment at last. As frailty and weakness quickly began to take him away, he felt detached from his body. He would soon become but a mere memory to all that knew him, whether they cared for him or not. He sensed himself becoming less corporeal; the numbness in his side finally deadened his entire body, to finally carry him away. Skipper felt sorrow for leaving Private, in fact his team like this. Still, there was nothing he could do to stop it, there was no stopping Death from claiming even him. His thoughts drifted around his team, hoping that they would be able to avenge both him and Marlene. If not, well, at least they would meet again. All of his thoughts then wandered over the prospect of death, if there really _was_ something beyond it. Well, he would soon find out. He wanted to embrace death, unafraid, and with welcoming flippers, but all that was changed when he heard a voice call his name.

"_Skipper?_"

Oddly, it didn't sound like Private's anguished cries nor Kowalski's pleading nor Rico's sorrowful grunts, not even Blowhole's menacing laughter; no, it sounded feminine. Only then did it hit Skipper that the voice … was _Marlene's_.

"_Don't give up!_"

A sudden current of power surged through Skipper's body and spirit with the speed of light. It ran throughout his entire form, his entire system, and throughout his _very_ essence. His blurring vision was replaced with a blinding light, and the numbness faded into a sudden feeling of renewal. The power continued to surge inside him, building up with tremendous force, until it imploded with the force of a supernova. It wrapped itself around Skipper, a halo of purest light surrounding him. He felt renewed strength course through him, empowering his very core, the force of which made Skipper felt like his brain was going to explode with the power that now surged throughout him. All sensation of weakness and numbness ebbed away; all his thoughts about death were now filled with images of Marlene, the one who he had ever truly loved. His heart pounded rapidly, bringing life to his rapidly strengthening body. It was over as soon as it had begun, all of it happening in a time too small to be measured by any clock. Skipper jerked his eyes open, and saw Kowalski crumpled over him, sobbing onto his belly.

"_His body's not accepting the serum! I've failed! I've failed…_"

Skipper turned his head to the left, hoping, just hoping that... His icy blue eyes met Marlene's hazel ones, staring at him with anxiety and worry, and in that instant, sudden joy overpowered him. How wrong, how very mistaken, he was to think that Marlene had _died_. Yet there she was, still suspended with chains, a smile breaking over her face in pure relief. There were no words Skipper could think of to describe what he had felt to see her alive and breathing after thinking she was dead. He gasped in a lungful of air, the sudden movement alerting Kowalski to his renewed presence. He turned his head to gaze at Kowalski, whose eyes had met his, and a smile break over his stricken face.

"Kowalski!" Private shouted.

Kowalski stood and turned to see Private, but a split second later was tackled by the young penguin as a missile soared over the spot where Kowalski's head was a moment ago. Skipper became instantly alert, and made to get up, but the rest of his body disobeyed him. He could feel the surge ebbing away, but it was draining slowly, and left him paralyzed as it did so. He turned his head to helplessly watch as Rico continued his dance of destruction against the leviathan, spitting out bombs and explosives after striking the robot with his flippers, weaving in and out of the robot's assaults, trying to catch the penguin with its limbs since its other attacks were rendered useless to such close proximity. Rico maniacally laughed with each successful strike, but stopped suddenly as the hand was able to grab his left foot.

"Uh-oh…"

The robot arm lifted the startled penguin into the air, spun him around in a circle, and threw him with such force to the right, a hole in the wall marking Rico's trajectory.

"**Rico!**" Private and Kowalski shouted simultaneously, and charged the armored giant. Private directly engaged the behemoth, and jumped to perform a kick his adversary; but failed when a spinning roundhouse caught the young penguin in midair. The only thing that marked Private's 'departure' was a second gaping hole beside the one where Rico vanished.

"**Private!**" Kowalski shouted in mid-charge, dodging the roundhouse by dropping onto his belly into a slide. Skipper's eyes opened wide when the drill missed Kowalski but a few scant inches, and the strategist finally took part of the battle. Landing a quick series of kicks on the robot's midsection, Kowalski spun around it and landed on the robot's back. He then proceeded to punch it, much to Blowhole's annoyance.

"_Get off of there! Hey!_"

"The power source must be around here somewhere… Aha!"

Skipper helplessly watched as Kowalski tried to yank something on the robot's behind, Blowhole trying to maneuver to try and get the penguin off. Growling in impatience, Blowhole pressed a button on the control panel, and the missile launcher, fully reloaded, began to fire missile pods. Without a targeting system though, the missiles were without guidance and flew everywhere. Some of them shattered the glass of an exhibit that once contained the villainous Savio; others battered the walls, adding more holes to the right wall; most of the missiles flew in no specific direction, hitting the what once was the floor, almost hitting the paralyzed Skipper; the Reptile House entrance, even the leviathan, but due to its thick armor plating, would might as well have been thrown pebbles. However, one of the missiles soared straight ahead, and struck Marlene. Skipper shouted her name, or at least he tried to. His body continued to disobey him, and the dread that Marlene was dead returned with such force that even without the serum, he would have been paralyzed.

"**Marlene!**" came Kowalski's distraught voice, and he began to yank harder on the robot's rear armor plating.

He watched the smoke from the missile start to vanish, grief washed through Skipper, a gray wave that swept throughout his core. Dreading the worst, he watched it slowly ebb away. The smoke parted to reveal Marlene, unconscious but unscathed. The chains, however, taking the brunt of the blast, were blacked and battered. Sudden relief broke through Skipper, his heart relaxing from such pounding it did a few moments ago. All of the missiles spent, Blowhole irritated voice echoed throughout what was once a breathtaking attraction of the zoo.

"_Gah! Enough of this!_"

Skipper turned in time to see Blowhole press another button, and twin saws attached to arms suddenly erupted from hatches on its back. Caught off guard, Kowalski's grip faltered, sending him plummeting down. As he fell, the hand was able to grab him, throw him in the air, and punch him before he fell, a hole beside that of his fallen comrades marking his disappearance.

The red haze started to return to Skipper, the edges of his vision turning a deep crimson as he narrowed his eyes. Anger and fury built up inside him, overwhelming the surge that came with the serum, like a white-hot tide. Blowhole had really gone too far this time, and Skipper was sick of lying on the floor. Skipper fully embraced the fact that he now hated the mad dolphin more than anyone or anything in the world as he watched him torment the ones he cared for the most: first Marlene, then Rico and Private and Kowalski, then Marlene again. The rage reaching a fever point, Skipper resumed control of his body, and stood up, his gaze on the straightening robot. Only then did he notice he was different, _very_ different. The red haze parted momentarily when he glanced at his reflection on a nearby tile. He was taller and bigger, his chest, flippers and legs were more muscled, and he could feel himself processing thoughts at a much faster pace. He looked down at his side and saw no more wound, no more injuries, no more bruises. Staring at his reflection on the tile once more, he saw an image of Marlene replacing that of his, smiling up at him, the words she had last spoken echoing throughout his mind.

'_Don't give up!_'

Well he wasn't about to. Returning his gaze to the robot, the red vision returning, Skipper watched as the robot turned around, Blowhole murmuring to himself. Catching sight of Skipper, a look of surprise flashed on the dolphin's face momentarily, before it was replaced with a mischievous grin.

"_Ah, back for round two? Quite bold of you, Skipper. Hmm, a super-mutated penguin against my mechanical masterpiece, seems like a fair fight…_"

Skipper said nothing, instead a snarl formed on his beak as he raised his flippers, preparing for combat that would inevitably come.


	10. Chapter X: Commando vs Madman

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes

**First of all, our DrunkenRookie is finally back on his feet after two long weeks of absence from taking a sick leave! Good to have you back big bro!  
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**Finally I get to update! I'm really, really, really sorry for having to keep you guys waiting, but Taekwondo practices (i'm into it) are just becoming so rigorous, I'm just so exhausted to even write. Oh well, I can honestly say I missed you too. Thanks so much to reviewers Poette O'Deal, noname, xxAznPenguin, Hanzo of the Salamander, Icicle1Penguin, The Darkly Angel, HarleyQuinn, Lightningfur, Thunderfox, TheOtterWoman, and lemurqueen. All your reviews made me smile and push on with the next chapter! Read, enjoy, and don't forget to review!**

**I'm also running a poll, it's on our profile page!**

**~Triksterr206, Drunken Tavern Juniors  
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**Chapter X: Commando vs. Madman**

Skipper began to rise; as he wiped his beak with his flipper, he could hear his own heartbeat as it got louder and louder, faster and faster but as he looked around and imagined to see all of the people he cared about hurt by the mad bottlenose, it kept him going. He stood up, putting his two feet on the cold, blood stained floor. Power readily surged throughout his core as he rose to fight Blowhole's machine, the creator laughing evilly. Trying to ignore the annoying, mocking sound of the dolphin's laughter, he tried to gauge the amount of strength the machine possessed. The punch that had met his charge and threw him face down showed the robot's agility; the force with which Skipper got smashed displayed its strength; and the dolphin's mad laughter convinced Skipper that he had to put an end to this. He raised his now-beefy flippers and parted his now-muscular feet to form a battle stance. The edges of his vision starting to turn a deep red, his beak curved instantly into a snarl as the power continued to surge through him like an electric charge.

"_Blowhole_." He whispered under his breath.

The sounds of the dolphin's manic laughter growing louder, he narrowed his vision and anticipated his opponent's next attack. Blowhole's laughter slowly ebbed away, and upon seeing Skipper, growled and pushed a button. The hatches opened behind his back to reveal the twin saws, circular and jagged, spinning rapidly and looked capable to cutting Burt the elephant in half with one clean blow. The behemoth shuffled forward, its mechanized feet tensing, preparing to spring. And spring it did, the machine jumping high into the air and aiming to land on Skipper. Its taloned feet would have flattened the penguin had he not jumped out the way. In his past state, Skipper wouldn't have been able to even clear that, but now with the power coursing through him, he was strong and agile enough to clear it, and even powerful enough to have countered with a kick to the robot's midsection, just below the screen that displayed Blowhole's face. Landing on the blood-stained floor, he stared at the robot again, only to have his eyes open wide in surprise. The part he intended to kick was covered in a layer of chrome plating, the toughest metal alloy known, and yet the armor plating displayed a foot-shaped _dent_ on the place it had met his kick. The blood haze parted momentarily as Skipper realized the totality of his latent powers as it surged throughout him. It was an invigorating feeling that further strengthened him, to see not just himself finally _injure_ the once-unstoppable machine, but to realize that he now had a chance and the means of stopping it. Blowhole seemed to have realized this as well, as the robot's 'eyes' fell on the dented plating.

"_No! No, that's impossible!_"

A second later, something hit Skipper in the belly hard; so hard that he flew into the air and landed flat on the ground. He was too amazed by his powers, and Blowhole caught him off guard. He promised himself that wouldn't happen as he straightened up, but has caught by a kick. He barely got his muscled flippers up in time to catch the mechanical foot before he was impaled by the talons, scant inches away from his chest. He strained against it, trying to force it away from him. The two were locked in a stalemate, and neither was willing to give up. Straining against it, Skipper looked up to see Blowhole press a button on the control panel, and the saws emerged once more, and began to spin. Skipper sensed what was coming, and he couldn't hold of the kick without being sliced, or dodging the saws without being impaled before his flippers fully released it. The penguin grunted in frustration, snapping his beak in an effort to hold off the taloned foot. Power continued to course through Skipper, but even his newfound strength started to diminish. The saws edge closer to the straining penguin, Blowhole taking his time as he savored another moment of victory.

"_I told you to surrender. Now it's too late little peng-you-in!_"

Skipper jammed his eyelids shut, and turned his head in weariness, refusing to give up despite being locked in the horns of dilemma. He opened his eyes only to see the three penguin shaped holes on the wall. In one of them, he saw Private, who looked at him with a tear in his eye. Skipper could sense Private's worry and concern for him which gave him a little strength then Rico, and Kowalski who had finally regained consciousness stood up with all their strength, comforting Private, patting his back and wiping his tears. Skipper smiled at the mirage, but the smile turned into a look of utter bliss as his icy-blue eyes met her imaginary hazel ones, and at that moment, all sound was deafened, and it was only him and her that mattered.

'_Don't give up!_'

He could see Marlene wrapping an arm around Private, who smiled and cheered Skipper on; Kowalski and Rico doing the same. Marlene smiled at him, supporting him, for _she_ was the source of his strength, they all were. The image vanishing, Skipper returned his gaze to the mechanical giant in front of him. Only his vision didn't dim, it didn't turn into the deep crimson of hate and anger, it didn't even portray Blowhole as a devil-in-disguise. It only saw Marlene. He felt a renewed surge of power, which doubled, then tripled, until Skipper felt overwhelmed by the amount of energy that coursed through him. He closed his eyes again as he was blinded by light, light that surrounded the form of Marlene, smiling at him and pushing him on. He felt the crimson haze parting, and his flippers _push forward_. He opened his eyes to see his flippers pushing against the behemoth's foot involuntarily, the robotic joints starting to bend. His eyes went wider in shock, and saw Marlene beside him. He wondered whether he was dreaming or not, as she placed paws made of purest light on his flipper's muscles and pushed with him. He sensed another presence beside him, and turned his head to see Kowalski, Rico and Private, also composed of light as they placed their flippers on Skipper and pushed. Each of them wore the most pleasant of smiles, and even Rico's didn't strike Skipper as disturbing. But none of those could have compared to Marlene's.

"_How are you doing this?_"

He pushed with all his might and heard Blowhole cry out in shock which soon turned to anger as he pushed more power into the mechanized limb. It couldn't match against Skipper's strength, and he gasped in surprise as the leg _snapped_. The robot swayed unbalanced before it fell on the side of the broken limb. It didn't stop there as Skipper jumped up and grabbed onto a saw, catching the part that attached it to the behemoth, and snapped it off as well. With a quick fluid motion, he sliced its twin off and threw the deadly weapon away. With that threat neutralized and its mobility severely crippled, Skipper grabbed onto the head and stared directly into the remaining 'eye', a snarl on his beak as he punched the head, the force of which rocked it to the side. He remembered what Kowalski had said earlier, and nimbly leapt to the back, his flipper catching the edge of the hatch that contained the saw blades. His flippers found the edge of the plating, and he began to pull with all his might.

"_Little rat! Get off of there!_"

Skipper swayed to the side as the drill tried to catch him, hanging onto the plate's edge for dear life. The drill missed by a few inches, and Skipper repeated the action. The plate edged slowly open, and Skipper could feel electricity coming from within it. The drill came round again, but this time the commando was ready. Dodging it, he grabbed onto the arm that held it, and with one chop from his flipper crushed it. The drill ceased spinning; it's the wires that controlled it no longer functional. Skipper planted his feet on the leviathan's lower back, and with one great tug, managed to yank it open. Within, he saw wires running in and out of the buzzing machine. Lifting himself up on the dented plate and using it as a foothold, he clenched his flipper and drove it into the center of the power core. Oddly, he felt no pain when his flipper met with it, shattering several capacitors and disconnecting wires as electricity coursed through his flipper. Instead, the power within him _absorbed_ the electricity, in doing so relieving him of any pain. Retracting his flipper, he prepared for another strike.

"**YOU-WILL-NEVER-HURT-HER-AGAIN!**" Skipper yelled, punctuating each syllable with a punch to the power core.

"_No! That's impossi - !_" Blowhole began, but his voice faded and grew distorted as the last of the machine's energy was spent before the thrashing arms and legs finally ceased movement, and the red light from the eye dimmed and went out.

Skipper panted in relief and sighed. He wasn't tired, in fact the surging powers within made him feel he could run around the world and make it back to this spot in under a minute, but he had more pressing matters on his mind. He jumped off of the ruptured plating and made his way to the form of the unconscious otter. He peered around at his surroundings as he did so, seeing the ceiling lights flicker eerily, others shattered by a missile or their wirings cut off. He caught the eyes of chameleons glancing at him from behind hiding spots. Snakes started to appear behind the glass displays, and others slithered out of broken ones. A gigantic green python (but looked like just a worm compared to Savio) made its way to Skipper, moving over the rough, uneven floor.

"¡Gracias amigo!" he hissed as he bowed to Skipper, smiling with the tip of his tongue stretching out.

"Anytime." Skipper said idly as he made his way to the unconscious form of Marlene, the python slithering away to his tank.

He jumped up and secured himself on the chains like he did earlier, and examined her condition. She looked so peaceful, but now he knew she wasn't dead. Staring at her with glassy eyes, his beak moved forward involuntarily and planted a small kiss on her forehead. He smiled before he lifted himself and placed his beak around the chains that suspended the unconscious otter. He snapped his beak shut, and the chains were _cut_. Landing and then catching her, he undid the chains with as much gentleness as he could, not taking his eyes off of her face. She looked so serene, it was breathtaking for Skipper as she shone in the flickering light. The other animals stared with curiosity, wondering what their savior was doing. Marlene moaned, and her eyes slowly opened. Her hazel ones met Skipper's blue ones filled with concern, and a smile broke over her face. Skipper found it amazing how she still was able to smile after all that happened to her.

"Hey Skipper." She groaned, her voice raspy and tired.

Her eyes seemed unfocused for a moment, but then widened in horror as she sat up with blinding speed.

"The-the-the robot! It's gonna kill us!" she screamed, her paws wrapped tight around Skipper and her eyes flashing wide with terror. "Kowalski, Pri - !"

Her cry was interrupted by a sharp gasp when her eyes fell on the still-smoking machine. It took her a few seconds to realize it, after which she turned her head to look at Skipper, but jumped up in surprise as her eyes travelled beneath the half-concerned, half-relieved look on his face. Her eyes jumped to the flippers that cradled her, and laid a paw on one of them, running it over his flippers that looked strong enough to crush her. Skipper would never do such a thing of course, but probably would if she entered his habitat or snuck up behind him unannounced. Her eyes resumed contact with his, and the thought that he never took his eyes off her filled her mind as her paws found their way to his biceps, thrice as large than they normally should have been. She lowered her eyes and placed a paw as gently as she could on his muscled chest, and could feel his chest rising as he silently breathed.

"Been workin' out?" she whispered, chuckling at her little joke.

His eyes continued to bore into hers, which made her wonder whether he was even capable of blinking or not. She tried to straighten herself and stand up, but weakness overwhelmed her and she stumbled. She expected to fall, but Skipper's flippers never left, and she swayed until she fell unto him, her head resting on his large barrel chest. His feathers felt soft and cool, and a strong to desire to fall into unconsciousness overwhelmed her. He helped her up, and stood slowly, allowing her to regain her footing. She held onto his flippers, and looked up to meet his eyes, but started in surprise to see him a head taller than her, his icy blue eyes piercing her from above. She smiled back, and let go of him, his flippers sliding off her. She turned to the exit, but halted when she scanned the area around her.

"Whoa! Looks like I missed a lot."

The glass panes of the reptile exhibits were shattered and cracked in places, while some were missing entirely. There were multiple holes on the right wall, three of them penguin shaped. She felt a pang in her heart as she remembered the fate of Private and Rico, and apparently Kowalski. Her eyes wandered over the cracked and battlefield-worthy floor, pieces of tiles everywhere and drying blood stains adorning it. Her vision then focused on the shell of the robot, and parts of it strewn everywhere. She identified two saw blades, dents in the shiny armor, a missing leg and arm, and shards of broken machinery from the gaping hole in its back. She tried to remember the events of the past few hours, but all she could remember were shadowy figures attacking her, falling unconscious, and the Penguins' battle against the destructive robot. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory of Skipper _dying_ on the floor, and of her screaming his name, Kowalski feeding him something, and her blacking out again. She placed a paw to the side of her head, and took a deep breath. She turned to see Skipper beside her, a look of worry on his face.

"It's okay, I'm fine Ski – "she began, but paused when she heard footsteps approaching, footsteps that were definitely human.

Her heart began to thump faster, but she gasped in surprise as Skipper gently picked her up as a groom would do his newly-wed bride, and sprang with lightning speed to the big, gaping hole on the left wall that opened up into the expanse of night. He stopped and took shelter in the shadows, his flippers still cradling his love. Sure enough, he was greeted by the voice of Alice, which denoted the end of the world.

"_**WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!**_"

He peeked to see the various reptiles scampering or slithering back to their habitats and Alice striding over to the shell of the defeated machine, and kick it with her boot.

"What the hell are these kids playing with today? First those morons pick all my flowers, now they smuggle in experimental toys? That's it! I'll see that that inspection proposition passes even if it's the last thing I do!"

And with that, the grumbling zookeeper left as she flicked off the lights. Skipper turned to see Marlene staring back at him, a cheesy smile on her face. Understanding it instantly, he set her down softly, and the duo walked away from the battered Reptile House before Alice and a crew of zoo workers showed up to round up the homeless animals.

They continued to walk wordlessly towards her habitat, glancing at each other every once and a while. Once they had reached the center of the zoo, the penguin habitat, they turned right to Marlene's but stopped abruptly when they heard footsteps approaching, only this time, it wasn't human. Marlene looked up curiously, but was met with a flipper from Skipper as he moved Marlene behind him, he himself entering a battle stance. Marlene frowned and crossed her arms at her penguin companion's sudden overprotective behavior. The footsteps grew louder, and Skipper straightened, a snarl forming on his beak. A shadow of the newcomer formed, and they saw it walking towards them, but then _tripped_. The two started in surprise, only to see the falling form to be Fred. But Fred was smaller, shorter, and looked just as he did not so long ago. His gigantic teeth struck the pavement and embedded themselves in it, the miniaturized squirrel trying to force them out.

"Oh, heh gahs!" he muttered, still trying to force his teeth out he tried to wave at them at the same time.

Skipper whirled around and expected to see Marlene's expression of utter sadness, but only saw her staring at him with a blank expression on her face. She stared at the squirrel, her face expressionless. He expected her to cry at any moment, her one source of happiness now reduced to nothing but a bundle of stupidity. But she didn't cry, or lament, not even pout, she just stood there. Then again, she wasn't one to lose face in public.

"You're taking this awfully well."

Skipper was surprised to find he was the one who was speaking, and realized that those were the first words he had said to the otter in the past few days. She turned to look at him, and a smile returned to her face.

"Easy come, easy go I guess." She said blandly. "Maybe we're just not meant to be…"

A sudden surge of happiness overwhelmed Skipper for but a brief moment; he felt his beak would break into a fully fledged grin if his iron resolve had not been intact. He also felt an overpowering desire to hug her for what she had said, but it was denied as well.

"Heh, yourh tallah than ah remembahd." Fred said, his teeth still stuck, glancing at Skipper.

Skipper caught Marlene turning away on the edge of his vision, and a sudden thought struck him. Fred was gone, and Marlene was all his. He had never gotten the chance to tell her what he truly felt, and as he watched her walk away, his heart beat faster in anxiety for his decision. She would soon be too far to hear him, and that one golden opportunity would be lost forever. It was now or never…

"Wait, Marlene!" Skipper called and sped toward her, closing the distance in a few strides. He grabbed onto her paw as she slowly turned around to see who it was. His stomach felt twisted into a knot for what he had to say, and for what he had to do, but he knew it had to be done. He personally felt he would rather face ten of Blowhole's robots without Kowalski's ultra-serum than summon up the guts to actually carry out what he had in mind. But it went past the point of no return as the words tumbled forth from his beak,

"Marlene, would you go out on a date with me?"


	11. Chapter XI: Date Night

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Hey guys! First of all, I'm really sorry for the delay in the updating, not that I had anything to with it of course. The storms in the Philippines have just been progressively getting worse, and I consider myself fortunate on days where we have electricity, let alone an internet connection. The floods have also been messing up the country, and the rains are just nonstop! So I was very happy that the typhoons cleared up and gave us a breather, but for my other countrymen who continue to suffer the brunt of the storms, I hope for the best for them, since there is little an 11-year old girl can do to stop a natural disaster!**

**Anywho, thanks so much for DrunkenRookie with the help with this chapter. Thanks also to the reviewers: The Darkly Angel (OMG so nice of you!), Hanzo of the Salamander, xxAznPenguin, lemurqueen (haha, I didn't even have that in mind when I wrote it! XD), Asmith137, Poette O'Deal, and to P3MF-Richter (Thanks so much for the advice, it really means a lot to me you take time to help me develop both as a writer and as a person!). Hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter!**

**~Triksterr206, DrunkenTavern Juniors **

**Chapter XI: Date Night**

"What?"

"Umm, you know, a date." Skipper stuttered, his flipper jumping to the top of his head. "Isn't the code you civilians use for it?"

Nervousness and anxiety wracking his brain, he stared at his own feet, feeling he would break at any second. What felt like an eternity passed as he waited for something, anything to come along before he collapsed before her. He looked up at Marlene, but as soon as he did that, he looked down again, trying to avoid her eyes. He expected her to just burst into laughter and stomp off laughing, but he looked up again to see her staring at him with a confused expression.

"Huh?"

"The code, you know, for going out, having a small conversation with another civilian?"

"Date? Don't you mean hanging out?" At this point, she let out a small giggle that was light and friendly, but made Skipper almost quiver in anticipation, and a small smile broke over her face.

"Uh, yeah. Hanging out would work. Maybe, umm, later at 9 at the Zoo Entrance?" Skipper spoke so softly that if it wasn't just the two of them, would have sounded like a passing breeze. The smile stretched wider, and to his surprise, she nodded her head.

"Sure. I'll see you then?"

"Affirmative then." He said as Marlene turned and walked away, and all the anxiety and nervousness vanish to be replaced by an overwhelming sensation to leap into the air. Skipper suppressed it, of course, but it wasn't meant to last, for another thought found its way into his consciousness.

"_What the hell will I do now!_"

Skipper suddenly realized the situation he just put himself in; he had no experience or information on dating, except for that small relationship with Kitka, which Skipper guessed he just lucked out. He had no knowledge when it came to romance, except for the fact that he knew he was in love with Marlene, which was absolute and would never change. If he couldn't smooth out his own inner turmoil, who would he turn to for help? Kowalski would never succeed in helping him; the strategist had even less experience when it came to matters of love than even Skipper. The memory of his rather disastrous attempts of courtship for Doris the dolphin still burned at the back of Skipper's head; the aftermath of which resulting into him considering Kowalski extremely fortunate he still had some of his dignity left. Rico was even worse than Kowalski, that much was clear, and Skipper found it better and less chaotic that the maniac loved some plastic doll than he would a living person. The incident in Guatemala proved that the more Rico was in love with another, the more devastating his 'courtship rituals' would be. In this case, well, all Skipper would bother to think of is that Rico is the primary reason as to why the Guatemalan quetzal is now on the endangered species list. To sum it up to a grand total, Skipper went on two dates, zero for Kowalski, and fifty-seven for Rico, not counting the dates with the doll of course, and Private, well…

"Private!"

Realization hitting him with the force of a nuclear explosion, he slid on his belly towards the Reptile House. How could he have forgotten the young Private? The boy had as much comprehension and experience on matters of love that is on par or even superior to Marlene's. Skipper couldn't recall any time when Private had actually gone on a date, but had more than enough knowledge of it to make up for it. He darted behind a lamppost as he caught a glance of several zoo workers placing several snakes in cages, and Alice striding amongst the debris. Quickly scanning the area, he knew his former teammates wouldn't bother to linger in such a location, and he sped off away from the Reptile House as he remembered what had happened to them during the fight. He steered himself in the direction of his former habitat, hoping that his friends were still there. He moved far faster than usual, the muscles on his belly exerting as much effort as they could, but did not tire Skipper in the least. He jumped up and cleared the fence, landing gracefully next to the hatch that led to their lair. Peeking inside, his heart skipped a beat as he caught sight of Kowalski administering bandages to Private's right flipper, meaning they weren't as injured as Skipper thought they would be. Remembering why he had come in the first place, he jumped down the hatch and looked up to see the other penguins staring at the newcomer in awe, with such intensity Skipper had never seen before.

"Is there something wrong Commander?"

Kowalski flinched at being addressed as such, apparently Skipper had not forgotten the transfer of command, but the strategist paid no attention to that as his eyes lingered on Skipper. Skipper looked around, seeing Private's beak opened in shock and relief, Kowalski's flippers still frozen on the halfway-bandaged flipper, the owner still silent from being overwhelmed by Skipper's sudden reappearance after his transformation. Rico was sitting on the bottommost bunk, not even wounded from the previous battle, but his flippers resting on the first aid kit, the plastic exterior still covered in sickly green digestive fluids. Skipper stared at them, feeling the awkwardness pressing in, but which was broken a few seconds later by Private, who gave a yell of joy and ran over to Skipper with the speed of a bullet. Upon reaching the supersized penguin, he wrapped his flippers around his former leader's midsection as he rested his head on Skipper's sleek, white feathers. Recovering from the affectionate assault, Skipper returned the hug, which lasted longer than Skipper usually would allow.

"Skipper! You're alive! I can't believe that you're alive!"

Skipper looked up to see Kowalski smiling approvingly and a smile breaking over Rico's face. He broke away from Private, the young penguin's right flipper flinching in pain, but Private paid no mind.

"Ummm, Private, can I have a word? In, well, private?"

"Shu-sure Skipper. You're our friend, even though you're not our leader. You can tell us anything!"

"Well I, ummm, I guess I…"

"What is it Skipper" asked Private, a quizzical expression forming over the young penguin's face.

"I asked, ummm, I asked Marlene out on, ahh, a date." Skipper whispered, bowing his head in embarrassment, speaking so low it was barely audible, but due to the way Skipper had trained them, it didn't make a difference anyway.

At that moment, three things happened at the same time: Rico gave a loud catcall that sounded incredibly similar to the high-pitched squeal of a gossipy housewife; Kowalski broke into a fit of giggling that was reminiscent of a little schoolgirl; and Private squeaked with delight and pulled Skipper into a hug that would have crushed his ribcage if he had not been given the serum earlier.

"What? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, noth – haha – nothing Skipper!" Kowalski panted through giggles which soon became full-fledged laughter, trying and failing to clamp his beak shut with his flippers.

"Yup!" Rico squealed, nodding his head but starting to giggle as well, Kowalski never laughed as much as he did now, and it was contagious.

"Okay umm….what do I say? What do I say?" Skipper slowly said and then started pacing nervously.

Private chuckled in a childish manner, Kowalski's and now Rico's laughter starting to infect him, as he broke away from Skipper.

"Oh Skipper. You don't have to recite lines in front of the mirror!" Private said, breaking into wild laughter.

"What do you mean?"

"You just have to be relaxed and confident." He replied trying to recover from laughing.

"You got to help me man!" He said forcefully, grabbing Private's shoulders and pulling him so close his beak almost pierced Private's eyes, and with such ease the penguin might as well have been a ragdoll. "I can't stand cracking up in front of her, I just can't!"

"Wait! You're serious!" Private said as he gulped in the rest of his laughter, and his eyes widened in horror at what he had just done. Kowalski and Rico seemed to realize this as well. Rico's whistling died down, and Kowalski, who had collapsed on the floor with his flippers clutching his ribs, awkwardly stared at Skipper, apparently aware of all the maniacal laughter that came from him.

"Oh. Umm. Okay." Private was unsettled by Skipper's bloodshot eyes and the crazy look on his face. Truth be told, he had only seen Skipper act this way if he was denied sleep, couldn't figure out how he had been constantly outwitted in a capture-the-flag game, and whenever he had lost in something, whether it was an operation, a mission, or even a game.

The realization that Skipper never really possessed any dating experience stunned him momentarily. Staring blankly at Skipper's face, absentmindedly whispered "Okay Skipper. I'll help you."

"Okay where do we start?"

"Where to start? Let's just work on your self-esteem first. Okay Skipper."

"My what?"

"You know….your confidence."

"Oh yeah! That thing." He nervously replied. He wasn't quite sure what Private was talking about.

"Don't feel nervous Skipper. I've seen you nervous around Marlene lots of times, but it you shouldn't let it ruin your date!"

"You know what? You're absolutely right young Private…how could have I been so blind!"

"See. That's the spirit Skipper." Private beamed.

"You're right, Private. I'll just cancel the date and pretend this whole thing never happened. Kowalski…brain washing options, oh no wait, you don't work for me anymore."

"No Skipper! Don't you see?"

"See what?"

Private gave a grunt of impatience and, to everyone's surprise, picked Skipper up with a rather angry and disappointed look on his face, and then practically dragged Skipper into Kowalski's laboratory, which was remarkably clean considering that Kowalski always blew it up by mixing chemicals and whatever he needed in his messed-up experiments. He took the two chairs where Skipper used to sob and weep over Marlene, carried Skipper effortlessly in one flipper and amazingly, had two chairs, one on top of the other in the other flipper.

Rico and Kowalski simply stared, their eyes following the youngest penguin of the group dragging their former-commanding officer, not to mention that he was twice as large as Private, across the floor and into the lab.

"Umm….Private?" Kowalski bravely interrupted. He was remarkably brave enough to _try _and stop Private. He raised his flipper as he talked but eventually, Private pretended as if he did not hear a thing, and slammed the door of the laboratory. They both heard a clicking noise as the door was locked, and both of the penguins stared at each other.

Rico heard Kowalski swallow as both tried to listen carefully which was easily achieved since after Kowalski's bold statement, the roam was dead silent. Rico heard Kowalski's heartbeat beating like there was no tomorrow. He knew that what Kowalski had done was bold but wrong: he shouldn't have tried to interrupt the young, but somewhat oddly possessed penguin in an act that would be very memorable since such an incident rarely happened, occurring only due to understandable reasons: an angry Private.

Kowalski evidently noticed Rico's stare and felt a very low point happening in his life, feeling like a rookie, a first-year hatchling. A few moments earlier, he even anticipated Private's burst of anger coming, the force of which could probably destroy the entire zoo. He just didn't know why it wasn't registering in his beautiful mind at all when it actually came. He could hear himself swallow again which then led to his excessive stuttering, as he felt he was about to faint. No one, not even Skipper, wanted to trigger a Private Panic. Finally, he slowly put his flipper down and shut his beak which was numb and dry. He broke the awkward staring contest and looked around, his eyes freezing on the spot where Private had vanished. He had read, well, had Mason and Phil read to him several books on psychology, especially after Private's recruitment into the team. Private was always soft and complacent, even a little naïve, but it turns out different, for the more caring Private was, the more deadly his dark side would be.

He felt like he was about to escape from what could have been the most embarrassing moment of his life, next to what happened between him and Doris the dolphin. He shivered involuntarily at the memory of it, so horrifying and so embarrassing to even bother remembering. Feeling quite sure that his brain was then properly functioning, the shivers left his body as Kowalski slowly began to relax and tried to think of what Private had planned for Skipper. Being in the company of an angry Private was scary, but being alone with one would be a nightmare. He heard shouts and banging echoing from behind the door as Kowalski recognized one as Skipper, shouting in muffled agony.

"Whoa." Rico said, unable to remain speechless.

The door suddenly sprang open as Kowalski and Rico jumped back a foot in the air as Private's head peeked from behind the metal door.

"Kowalski, check in on us in an hour or two, I've got some work to do." Private said, slamming the door shut, not even bothering to wait for Kowalski's response, even if he had any.

"Oh well, I was going to show him some charts I drew up, but, well, now seems to be a bad time. Would-would you like to see them Rico?"

Rico shrugged in response, his eyes still firmly locked on the door, wondering if it would burst open again, destroying the only thing that shielded the two penguins from the Private Panic. A few moments later, Rico tore his eyes away from it, wanting something, anything, to distract him from thinking about what was going on inside the laboratory. Rico approached Kowalski, who was sitting down on a nearby chair, interested in what he had to say, something that wasn't one of his plans about stealing fish from a truck or buying a new Miss Perky. This time he was interested in something that could give him any kind of relief from the nightmarish thoughts that pushed themselves into his mind, even if it meant listening to some boring speech by the strategist. Even Rico, tough as he was, was unnerved by a Private Panic, especially after Private's wrath exploded on Rico during their infiltration of a Fish Canning Factory in downtown, the aftermath of which Rico thought he was lucky to even be alive, and made him more aware of eating the last of the Peanut Butter Winkies.

"Aha!" He screamed as he fell from his chair, a folder in his right flipper.

"Whazzat?"

"Oh, it's a document containing, well, Skipper's progress. Well you see Rico, I've been monitoring Skipper's you know - "

"Hiz wah?" He replied, a his eyes narrowing in curiosity. He wasn't quite sure that he knew what Kowalski was talking about.

"His-his-his-"

"Hizzzzz?" Rico hissed, apparently aware that what Kowalski wanted to say was about something he wasn't comfortable doing.

"His emotions, of course." Kowalski hushed, bowing his head as he lifted the folder to obscure the lower half of his beak, afraid his voice might carry into the lab.

"Whoa."

"No, no, Look it's really quite simple Rico. It's just you know-"

"Noh wah?"

"This." He pulled out a sheet of paper labeled 'TOP SECRET' out of the folder.

"Whoa."

"You see, I wanted to show Private this. I've been monitoring Skipper's fluctuation of emotions since the whole Fred incident, but now they've spiked to dangerously high levels, especially after that last battle with Blowhole. And if in any case that Marlene rejects Skipper, even the thought of which, will push Skipper into a state of extreme desperation. So, Rico - " Kowalski looked up from the document to look at Rico, but the scarred penguin just stared blankly into the space above Kowalski's head. "Uhh, Rico?"

"Wah? Oh yah, **BORING!**"

"No, just hear me out. I'll just summarize it for you. Hmmm, how to put this in a way you'll understand…" Kowalski rubbed the bottom of his beak with his flipper, pondering how best to communicate it to Rico.

"Aha! Skipper – love – Marlene – big – very – very – big."

"Oh, uh-huh!"

"Yes Rico." He replied.

Rico's eyes lit up in amazement and his beak parted, possibly to squeal that housewife scream again but he was interrupted with the sound of something being smashed against the door.

**BANG****!**

The two penguins stared at the door as it slowly opened, and Skipper emerged with Private behind him. Kowalski hastily hid the folder behind his back as they both stood up.

"That was quick." Kowalski blurted out, finding anything to take attention away from the folder behind his back.

No one responded as Skipper took a deep breath and made his way to the ladder that led to the exit of their lair. Kowalski theorized that Private was secretly a brilliant scientist when it came to love and made the best love potion in the world. But Rico thought that maybe Private actually replaced the real Skipper with a robotic drone that was in Private's control. Growling slightly, he regurgitated a baseball bat and made to lunge at the young penguin, but he abruptly stopped as Skipper's voice broke the silence.

"Boys, I think we all know that it's safe to say that-"

"Come on Skipper. Say it!" Private giggled in joy.

"I'm ready for my date!"

"Really? Yay! I'm so proud of you Skipper!" said the young penguin in intense joy, hugging what Rico still thought was his 'creation'.

"No need young Private. And by the way, you will never find me ungrateful. Heck, Kowalski might just give you a promotion."

Kowalski's and Rico's eyes jumped to Private, staring at him in awe at what he had just done. Walking to the dumbstruck strategist's side, Private wrapped his flippers around his commander's midsection and looked up at him apologetically. Private only chuckled softly as Kowalski smiled back. Kowalski still couldn't figure out how Private was able to do such an outstanding feat. Perhaps it was one of his brilliant therapist secrets he never told anyone, and used it only when the right situation called for it. In truth, he was more proud of himself, he liked giving a big contribution to people's lives. That was one of the traits that marked him as 'the nicest animal in the zoo'.

Skipper climbed up the ladder, opened the hatch and quickly jumped out.

"Wish me luck boys!" came an echoing voice from above.

The trio watched their former leader and friend leave, but stared at Private again as they heard sniffling sounds.

"They just grow up so fast!"


	12. Chapter XII: Unexpected

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Is it me, or is luck frowning on me recently? First, schoolwork piles up. Second, rains come, and I mean REAL RAINS! Third, I am so busy I don't even have time to watch PoM...That's just really disappointing. I expect to be very busy this week (month), so I can only update on weekends and whenever I have free time (unlikely!).**

**That being said, thanks to reviewers xxAznPenguin, hardrocker21, 13thsense, The Darkly Angel (so sweet!) and to P3MF Alpha 4-Richter (read it, I think they make a great pairing!), thanks also to my besty S-Kitty! Enjoy...**

**Chapter XII: Unexpected**

Skipper stared at twinkling stars spanning the night sky, made faint by the eerie glow of the streetlamps. He sighed deeply as his mind buzzed with ideas and 'strategies' he would be needing for this 'date', and whether or not they would work, and whether or not Marlene would see through his actions. His heartbeat rate picked up as he felt a passing breeze brush against his feathers, and he gave an audible shiver. It wasn't because it was a cold night, no; on the contrary it was mid-summer. He knows he has never acted this way before, but probably it was because he never had been in such a situation he was in now. He shook his head frantically, trying to clear up his thoughts, as he glimpsed the distant silhouette of a zoo worker carrying a couple of cages, that no doubt contained the animals from the Reptile House. He watched the worker quickly walk away; the small incident at the Reptile House would probably have the zoo shut down for a while. Children on vacation wouldn't be able to visit the zoo for some time, but to Skipper, it was just fine, as there were more pressing matters on his mind than entertaining sugar-high toddlers. After waiting for a few more seconds, he continued walking in the direction of the front gates, the distinct shape of the ticket booth looming in the dim light.

'_She's waiting for me._' Skipper mentally reminded himself. '_But what if she doesn't come?_'

At the thought of this, Skipper froze, unwilling to even think that; but somehow, the thought that it might just be true lingered in his mind. His wind strained to work, but now accommodated to the increased processing rate, told him there was only one way to find out. But he made no sudden movement or dart forward. No, he had enough time to think about, well, everything that had happened so far. Skipper closed his weary lids, having not slept for two days, but again, he had more pressing matters to attend to. He was aware of what he was like whenever sleep was denied, and just hoped it wouldn't affect the date he had always longingly hoped for. His thoughts drifted to the incident that happened in the Reptile House; surely Blowhole couldn't have gone so far. Still, his lust for vengeance sometimes overpowered his sense of proportion, and that worked in Skipper's favor, at least today it did. Sighing deeply, he knew he had to be honest to himself as he recounted the countless times he had wanted to say what he truly felt for Marlene, but whenever he tried to, all that came out was bluster, lies, and arrogant gung-ho speeches. He knew he had to keep face in front of his men and the entire zoo, but Marlene always had that uncanny hold over him. He always was the first to spring into action whenever he even heard she was in danger, and he knew he was ready to give his life for her if he had to, the incident with Blowhole was but the most recent of these. He knew he could never deny her, not even the most nonsensical request she had to ask, and it took great effort on his part to grant the request and keep up his character at the same time. If she was even aware of the kind of hold she had on Skipper, he would be as soft as putty in her paws. But he had to be realistic as well, and the anxiety building up in his brain always kept thinking the same thing: '_Does she feel the same way about me?_'

'_Nonsense!_' says his gut, '_You're better off without love!_'

'_What do you know?_' replies his brain, '_All you do is digest stuff!_'

'_Love makes you weak! Your Commander Rockgut never bothered with that garbage!_'

'_And look how he turned out? Crazy, that's what!_'

'_**CRAZY GOOD, THAT IS WHAT!**_'

'_**I LOVE MARLENE!**_'

With great effort, he silenced the rampant thoughts that stirred his stomach, as he looked up to see the familiar form of an otter doing a poor job of hiding behind the ticket booth. A jolt of electricity surged up his spine as feelings of intense happiness bubbled up in his stomach, popping to create an overwhelming sensation to dash forward and hug her. But his resolve wasn't broken yet, and he slowly walked to her position. His heartbeat went up to a fever pitch, his face started to feel hot, and he felt his feet would give. He wanted to stop walking, to just run away and rid himself of all the fear and anxiety, but his body disobeyed him. Odd, his body _never_ disobeyed him before, and in a few more seconds he would be in her line of sight. It all felt very strange to him, and every step he took popped another bubble in his stomach, corroding the Iron Resolve he had spent years perfecting, and absolute euphoria threatened to break out. The only thing that stopped the dam breaking was the voice that rang out into the night, and cut a clean swath through the former-commando's thoughts,

"Skipper"

He glanced up to see Marlene, half-concealed by the shadows, half-illuminated by the light from the lampposts, and he slowly walked up to her, fully aware that her gaze was upon him, so intense it might've burnt a hole right through him. He lifted up his flippers hesitantly, as if unsure whether he should hug her. Ultimately deciding not to, and perhaps saving him great amount of awkwardness, he froze, not knowing what to do next. This was extremely out of place for Skipper, he always knew what to do, but when it came to this, he was as dumb as Fred. What was he expecting? His military training never prepared him for this kind of scenario as he tried to fight down the bubbles constantly erupting in his stomach. He was never familiar with this kind of fighting. He wished he was back out in the battle field, the real one as he thought.

"_Well? Go on now." _echoed Private's voice in his buzzing head.

'_Huh? Private?'_ He thought.

"_Come on Skipper! You can do it! Just do everything I told you to."_

'_You're right young Private. I can do this.'_

"_Wait… really? Yay!"_

Skipper gathered all the strength and courage he could. He hid his face from her, trying to cover his shaking beak and the shame visible in his eyes. He felt so nervous, his flippers started shaking, later his whole body as well.

"_Are you gonna' just stand here soldier or are you gonna' start acting like the man you really are?" _ Came Private's voice yet again.

"_Well? She's right there you know!" _Came another Private-y voice, and another, an imaginary chorus of Privates urging him to man up and confront her.

"_Be a man!"_

"_Come on! Do it man! Do it!"_

Skipper couldn't think right; he was losing control of his body as his legs stepped forward, and took another step. His mind screamed to hold back, to run away now and forget it, but his body continued to disobey him, and quickened the pace. He strained as hard as he could to stop himself, but years of training had made his instincts the most dominant factor in this situation. He tried again, but his body broke into a run, and only stopped when he was about to collide with Marlene.

"Skipper! It is you."

"Well hello my dear Marlene. Sorry about that. It's just you know-"He said very coolly and confidently, much to his surprise. What on earth was happening? Why couldn't he control anything?

"No... No...No Skipper. It's alright...It's alright." She replied, waving away Skipper's apology with her right paw, as a grin slowly forming on her face.

Marlene stared deep into his eyes. At that moment, he felt so weak, so inexperienced on matters of well, this, and the fact that his body continued to deny him control made nothing better. Even she was surprised at the amount of confidence he radiated, to the point where Marlene felt it spreading to was downright confused yet overall impressed.

Skipper's body finally gave control over to him, and he felt relieved, even waving his flippers about to ensure they wouldn't do something foolish such as wrap themselves around Marlene.

'_Since when did he become the romance type?'_ She thought to herself, but nonetheless took his flipper in her paw, a friendly gesture at best, or so she thought, and smiled at him.

Due to the new size of his flipper, she could barely wrap her paw around it; much less keep a firm grip on it. He seemed to be aware of this as well, and he gave a forced cough to pathetically cover up the fact that he had tightened his grip on her paw. Marlene dearly wanted to erupt into laughter, but she was afraid it might have a negative effect on the remainder of the 'hang-out'.

Skipper coughed again, and looked away from Marlene.

"Is something wrong Skipper?"

"It's just that, well, I've never really been, what was it, 'hanging out'." Skipper's voice slowly started to die down, obviously ashamed of what he had admitted.

This time Marlene actually _did_ burst into laughter. Her grip on his flipper slackened as she clutched her sides and slapped her knee. Skipper looked away, obviously trying to avoid her tear-filled eyes. After a few seconds, Marlene's laughter shrank to high-pitched giggles, and then died out completely.

"You've never hung out before? Then what do you call the things you guys do whenever you're not trying to save the zoo or your bellies from hunger? Don't tell me that's not hanging out!"

Skipper just wanted to die there and then, embarrassment so powerful he felt all sensation drain from his body. Pulling himself together on instinct, and probably to stop his eyes from twitching, he strained to recall what Private had said to him a few hours earlier. A few moments later, his mind finally kicked into its 'normal' state, as he planned to put into action everything the young romantic had taught him. Determined and confident, Skipper smiled at her response, knowing full well that she still used the term 'hanging out' instead of 'date'. He looked at her; she was just as confident as he was a few moments ago. It gave him an enormous amount of confidence to know that they shared the same feelings toward this 'date'. Nevertheless, he had to make sure that everything on this date would go according to plan.

"_Well...it seems that the tables have turned my dear Marlene." _ He happily thought.

"Yeah! Let's go." He finally replied in barely audible whisper, but Marlene sensed an underlying fuzziness to his voice, it sounded odd, very odd.

Marlene forced herself to laugh. She didn't know why; he didn't make a joke. This was only to cover up the fact that _she _was the one feeling nervous. On Marlene's part, this felt very unusual; from what she had experienced before, she had never expected Skipper to talk in such a manner, let alone talk to her in such a manner. She looked into his eyes again, trying to recover from the awkwardness that she had brought up. His eyes, as usual, revealed nothing of his inner thoughts. At least there was something not out of place with Skipper. The commando penguin had only changed so much in such a short span of time. For starters, he was bigger, taller, and well, she had to admit to herself, _hotter_. Second, that aura of confidence he radiated whenever she was in his presence, it was all very odd; usually Skipper's aura usually consisted of overconfidence with a hint of arrogance, but never the kind of cool reassurance he radiated tonight, like it made him seem so confident and relaxed. Third, the amount of gentleness that he treated her with, he was never like that. He normally treated her with conceit, superiority, and a touch of disdain, but again, that was no longer him. Marlene thought that perhaps being so close to Death can change someone, even someone as Skipper, so drastically. She shivered as she felt something rush up her spine; her fur beginning to rise due to a strong and unfamiliar feeling that ran throughout her entire body.

"So umm yeah…let's go." She abruptly replied, and gripped his flipper again.

They walked away, paw in flipper as they apparently headed in no particular direction, but Skipper knew exactly where to go. This unnerved Marlene however, as anxiety, insecurity, and worries swirled in her head. She could sense that Skipper knew what he was doing, but he gave no hint as to what it was. Confused and worried, Marlene wanted to break away and run, but something, somewhere in her subconsciousness, urged her to proceed. How else would she find out what he had planned for her if she ran away now? He moved with such confidence, that all Marlene could do was continue to walk beside him, she was now powerless to resist. They were approaching the Marlene's place, with Zoovenir Shop looming behind it, but Skipper had abruptly stopped, with Marlene following suit.

"Skipper? Is something wrong?" she asked in a worried voice, clearly not liking where this was going, but wanting to continue anyway.

Skipper stared glassy eyed at the Zoovenir Shop, as memories of the past few hours flooded into his mind. His suitcase was still up there, where he had abandoned it to save her from Blowhole. The thought about what would have happened to Marlene if Skipper had continued with his plan of leaving the zoo hit him with the force of a tidal wave, and it soon ebbed away, only for it to linger, to haunt him. He had forgotten all about his leaving when he had learned of Marlene's fate, he remembered the feelings of desperation and anxiety as he raced toward her, hoping against hope she was still alive, and how he thought he was ready to _die_ for her. It was too horrifying to think about what would have happened if he had not known, if he had not decided to save her. His beak hung limp as he remembered everything he felt, everything he intended, and everything that fell apart when he saw Marlene chained up, about to be killed before his very eyes.

"Skipper? Are you okay?" Marlene's voice was laced with worry, clearly sensing something troubling the stalwart penguin.

Snapping out of his trance, Skipper stared at Marlene with glassy eyes; and as soon as their eyes met, Skipper knew with all conviction, all certainty, that he was undeniably and absolutely in love with her, as his beak moved forward involuntarily, ever so slowly, four inches, three inches away from her lips. He never broke the gaze, as he stared deep into her eyes filled with worry, but hid something as well. Stopping himself and forcing his head back, he turned away from the Zoovenir Shop and continued to walk in that direction. He fell his confidence shrinking, hoping that Marlene didn't notice the fact that he was about to kiss her. He looked back again at her, only to see a smile of relief flash on her face. Good, she didn't notice it, but the only thing that stopped him from making that foolish move was the one thing that shocked him the most. Beneath the stare of worry Marlene cast on him, he sensed something else beneath that, something hinting at the foreboding. He cleared his throat loudly, as he continued his trek to point of execution of his plan.

"What was that back there?" came a voice to his left.

"What? Nothing Marlene." He said simply.

"What do you mean nothing? You were staring at sky or something, what's up with that?"

"I thought I saw a missile headed straight for the zoo." Skipper said quickly, but his mind was being haunted by something else other than stray missiles.

"Oh, okay." She replied curtly. She knew he was lying, but she didn't press on it, for the sake of this 'hang-out'.

They walked by Marlene's habitat, as well as the Zoovenir Shop, with Skipper casting quick glances behind him at the roof of the gift shop. Marlene stared at him with a mix suspicion and interest; of course there it wasn't the missile season, so the chances of missiles falling were very remote. She stared ahead, and suddenly occurred to her where Skipper was taking her, the remains of the Reptile House. It was unclear as to why Skipper was taking her there, but the ruined husk was still bathed in streetlight, the battered letters that once made up its sign strewn about, with the silhouette of several neatly stacked cages devoid of contents stood out next to it. She turned her head to look at him, still curious as to why he was taking her there. But her thoughts were interrupted when Skipper abruptly stopped yet again.

"Wait, do you hear that?"

Marlene strained her ears, and a few moments later, she caught it too. It was a low hum, like a swarm of buzzing honeybees, but there was an odd ring to it. Skipper took a step to the direction of the source of the odd sound. With his senses enhanced due to the mutation, he could easily pick up the sound, apparently coming from somewhere to their left. He walked slowly in that direction, as the sound was suddenly silenced.

"What was that?" Marlene asked, but pressed herself closer to Skipper as the lights from the lamps overhead vanished, bathing them in darkness which the moonlight from above could barely illuminate.

Skipper stared at her, her head glancing from side to side as she trembled in his flippers, as they instinctively wrapped themselves around her. She looked so much more beautiful in the moonlight, and this sent Skipper straight into an unbreakable trance.

'_Forget the Reptile House!_' his mind urged. '_This is better!_'

His flipper involuntarily jumped upward and laid itself on the side of Marlene's face, and it gently turned it, so their eyes met. She was startled, but she soon calmed down as her hazel eyes met Skipper's blue ones. She sensed the power of his aura grow tenfold, to the point where she sensed she could drown because of it; she wanted to run, but her curiosity pushed her to wait. She didn't blink as he placed the tip of his other flipper underneath her chin as he continued to gaze into her eyes.

"Marlene from the first day we met, I knew there was something, something about you, that convinced me to never deny you anything, but I know that now, there is something I cannot deny."

The commando took a deep breath as Marlene's look for terror was replaced with a look of pure curiosity, as an inquisitive frown started to appear on her face. Skipper paid no attention to this as he summoned up the courage to say what needed to be said, unaware Marlene was no longer listening.

"Marlene, I lo - "

"WAIT!" she whispered urgently. "Do you hear that?"

Skipper stopped in midsentence, as he strained to listen. The hum returned, only this time much closer, sounding much more distinct. The sound grew in pitch and volume, and Skipper could barely make out its source in the near pitch-darkness. As it grew, it sounded more melodic, almost like -

"Music?" Marlene blurted out, as her cultured imagination began to make out voices in choral harmony, vocalizing in such angelic melody.

With blinding speed, the lamps illuminated themselves again, with such intensity that both were blinded momentarily. Skipper stumbled as Marlene's presence utterly vanished , he felt around, hoping he could find the otter as the volume and pitch of the song increased, surrounding him, as if the very earth was singing. His eyes stung from the blinding light that radiated from the streetlights above him as his ear holes were filled with the siren-like choruses. The intensity of the light started to dim, as he instinctively raised his flippers in a defensive stance. He blinked once, twice, striving to make out the images that loomed before him.

The sight that greeted his recovering vision was not welcome: Marlene was covering her watering eyes, sitting on a throne made entirely out of fruits with arrays of flowers laced all around it; a paw held a bundle of roses before her, and to Skipper utter dismay, the paw belonged to none other than King Julien..


	13. Chapter XIII: Desperate Alliance

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Hey guys! I've just been so busy for the week, but I finally squeezed enough time to watch the newer episodes of PoM. I can't believe I only watched Otter Woman last weekend, I missed so much! Thanks so much to CalmKlawd for the help with this chapter, and to reviewers xxAznPenguin, The Darkly Angel (ty!), hardrocker21 (yes you did spell it right 8] ) lemurqueen (I know right? *squeals*) Soft Kitty [DrunkenTavern], and to Skystar Leader of FlameClan. Oh well, on to chapter!**

**~Triksterr206, DrunkenTavern Juniors**

**Chapter XIII: Desperate Alliance**

It was late, but he paid no attention to the hours dwindling by. None of it mattered anyway, as he didn't feel sleepy or tired. No, for him, sleep could wait, for he had something more pressing to attend to. He sighed as he eased himself in his chair, metallic and cold to the touch, but extremely comfortable for him. His right flipper rested on his clipboard, a half-completed blueprint of a new invention on its surface, a pen sitting idly beside it. His left was on the arm of his chair, balancing his slowly drooping head, and leaving it only if he needed to pick a snack from the bucket of fish placed conventionally beside his flipper. The others were probably asleep, snoozing in their bunks, and paying no attention whatsoever to what he was doing. Well, if he was doing anything at all. The light from the gigantic screen in front of him cast an eerie glow over him, making him look almost ghostly in appearance. He sighed deeply, his artificial eye unblinking, as he reminisced once again.

It had been a while after his defeat at Skipper's hands, but the thing that bothered the mad dolphin was the way he moved, with uncanny speed and determination, so assured of himself. But this time was different, for Skipper was even more determined, if that was even possible, to complete his mission, which was saving his 'friend' and absolutely ruining an invention that took him months to perfect. For that, he vowed revenge, but the plan on revenge wasn't working out so well, in fact it was all piling up. Revenge on the humans, that stupid 'trainer' of his at the aquarium, Skipper, his team, and, of course, that traitor lemur. He all had plans for these, most of which included drowning and boiling, but some of which involved incinerating, beheading, using Chrome Claw again, or perhaps experimenting with the so called 'boring to death' tactic used by Kowalski countless times. Although all these elaborate plans of execution were all catalogued on his database, he had something special planned just for the lemur.

His reverie was broken as the blue screen turned red, and an alarm blared all around him. Instantly alert, he sprang from his chair as he reached for his stroller and landed on it in one smooth fluid motion. He looked to his right as he heard scuttling, but upon seeing nothing, looked down instead to see one of his own personal henchmen striding up to him.

"Master, there's an intruder alert and security breach on levels B-4, B-7, and A-1!"

Blowhole snarled and pressed a button on the control panel before the metal chair. A camera feed appeared on it, showing lobster henchmen moving out to the breached areas, bloodshot-eyed and annoyed. He pressed another button, and saw a gaping hole on the wall, the edges still smoldering, clearly from a controlled explosion. He pressed the same button, and saw a number of lobster servants unconscious in the hallway. He turned to the servant behind him, glassy eyed as he stared at his unconscious brethren. His mouth was open wide in disbelief, and Blowhole had to growl to get his attention.

"Take the 3rd and 4th patrols up to the breaches, take the 2nd to secure every entrance and exit, I don't want anyone getting out, and then send the 1st to deal with the intruder!"

"The 1st? T-the Cl-claws Master?" stuttered the crustacean.

"**OF COURSE THE CLAWS YOU IDIOT! I DIDN'T APPOINT YOU RED ONE JUST FOR YOU TO BACK INTO THAT BLASTED SHELL OF YOURS IN AN ATTACK! NOW DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO! IS THAT CLEAR?**"

The henchman quickly nodded his head with much difficulty, and scuttled off toward the doors and out the control room while Blowhole turned to the panel and flicked through the security cameras, trying to decipher who the intruder is. The loud, shrill blare of the alarm echoed off the stone walls of the control room, but it did not distract the dolphin for even a second. Crustacean henchmen, some unconscious or dead, he didn't care which, briefly flashed across the screen. He heard an explosion somewhere above him as he clutched his chair to prevent him from falling over. He snarled again, and did a quick calculation as he pressed another button, and found the camera that was positioned in the area. Upon finding it, his eye went wide as he caught the sight of several figures moving in the thinning smoke.

***Somewhere else…***

The sudden sound of the alarm almost caused Kowalski to scream out loud, and he had to clamp his beak shut with his flippers to stifle the scream. He glanced at his companions, who were staring at him in surprise, until he calmed down and jumped into the entrance that Rico was kind enough to provide, the other following suit. They moved along the hallways until Kowalski found it: a metal grille, which was bolted with nails and hinged on the right side. He wordlessly signaled Rico and Private over, as the two nodded in response and shot forward, hiding behind a column protruding from the wall. Rico started to pull the corner of the grille, grunting in effort, but it didn't budge. Snarling in exasperation, he regurgitated a crowbar and stuck it in the corner, pushing against it, straining, as it came free with a loud clanking noise. Private nimbly jumped in and gave the 'all clear' signal. Rico and Kowalski followed, the intellectual shutting the grille behind him. The others were already moving up the ventilation shaft, and Kowalski had to speed up considerably to catch up with them. He glanced at an opening and caught a patrol of eight drowsy, red-eyed henchmen passing the grille. They made it past, but the one henchman in the rear caught sight of the crooked grille, and signaled the others as he came close to investigate it. Likewise, Kowalski signaled Rico to take them out quickly, lest they lose their cover. Nodding maniacally, he quickly regurgitated a prototype invention of Kowalski's own design. Looking like a metallic pancake, it was specially designed to release a high-pitched whine, on a frequency low enough to prove harmless to penguins, but would prove to be a nightmare to the crustacean henchmen, incapacitating them for hours. Rico tossed it down; right behind the distracted lobsters as it lit up and turned red, releasing the whine. The lobsters clutched their head and snarled, but it proved futile as they crumpled a few seconds later. Private sniffed, pitying the unconscious sentries, as Rico scoffed at his weakness and gave him a hard slap across the head. Kowalski continued, with the two following behind him. They moved as fast and silently as they could, wanting to get away before more guards were alerted. They caught sight of a few more patrols as they moved past, but none were aware of their presence. Rico poked at Kowalski and did a begging gesture, as Kowalski stared at him for a few seconds before realizing that Rico wanted to beat them up. Kowalski shook his head and looked at him sternly, as he whined in disappointment. The minutes dragged by, and so did the patrols, with Rico whining more loudly with each patrol they passed. Kowalski felt something poking his side again, and grunted exasperatedly before seeing Private beside him.

"Kowalski," he whispered, trying to ignore Rico's grumbling as another patrol passed. "Do you think we are doing the right thing? I'm really worried about Skipper; maybe he's gone too far. I mean Marlene and everything-"

"Private, you've got to understand." Kowalski whispered harshly. "Skipper doesn't know what he's doing, but we have no other choice but to do this mission!"

"I know Kowalski but-" Private began, but a loud explosion boomed beneath them.

Caught off guard by the boom, the two looked behind him as they heard Rico laughing maniacally. The psycho in question was next to a metal grille, regurgitating another bomb and preparing to throw it down.

"**NO RICO!**" Private and Kowalski shouted simultaneously.

"Awww" Rico whined loudly and swallowed the bomb again after putting it out.

"Rico what did you do that for?" Kowalski demanded exasperatedly. "Now our cover's blown!"

Rico did a shrugging gesture, as if to say 'they deserved it'. Kowalski growled in annoyance as he heard scuttling coming in their direction, no doubt having seen the open grille.

"Too late!" Kowalski exclaimed, before staring at Rico sternly. "Well Rico, it looks like you got what you wanted!"

Rico started to chuckle evilly as he heard a scuttling sound quickly approaching their location, as anything Kowalski said that didn't have to do with fighting fell on deaf ear holes.

"This isn't a stealth mission anymore!" Kowalski said, stretching his flippers and legs. "It's time to bring it to them with the speed of light and with the force of an atomic bomb!"

Rico grunted in agreement, understanding the tone of his voice without having to comprehend the words, and was getting ready to spring. Private smiled at Kowalski, and followed the intellectual's movements.

'_He's becoming more and more like Skipper everyday! Well, without that atomic part that is!_' he thought to himself, as he placed his left flipper over his head and stretched it, as the scuttling sound grew ominously close.

Rico was the first to spring, a fierce war cry erupting from his beak, which caught the patrol off guard. They cried in surprise as the bulk of the maniac crashed into scarlet shells, and as the two joined in the attack. Rico babbled crazily as he picked one up by the tail and swung him in a wide arc, catching Private and several goons. Private was slammed against a wall, with several lobsters meeting the same fate. Kowalski glared at Rico in disbelief as Private started to rise.

"Crikey Rico!" Private wheezed, clutching his sides before countering a punch from a recovering henchman beside him.

A barely audible grunt which faintly sounded like 'sorry' escaped from the war machine, not even looking at Private as he regurgitated something that fell right into the center of the regrouping guards. Rico turned and covered his ears, with the other two realizing it and doing the same. A flash of pure white and a deafening howl came from behind them as the crustacean guards cried out in agony. The light and whine died away as Rico turned and slammed the nearest lobster into the ground. Kowalski dodged the clumsy strike of one of the guards and countered with a blow to the unarmored underbelly and another one to the head, knocking him out. Private charged, but was caught by Rico's strike, sending him flying backwards. Rico didn't bother apologizing, clearly oblivious to everything except the fight. A few seconds later, all members of the patrol lay unconscious on the ground, as Private picked himself up, not even hitting anyone. Rico was still chuckling to himself, as began kicking the unconscious guards. Kowalski put a flipper around Private and looked at him with concern, analyzing his medical condition at the same time. He shook his head in disgust at Rico, as he wordlessly signaled him over. The maniac complied, and he came over, kicking bodies along the way. Kowalski gave an order to move out, but before he even completed it, they were bathed in silvery-white smoke, so sudden, it caught them by surprise. They all coughed as the smoke started to thin, as they saw Rico holding a portable electric fan and pointing it at the smoke, which began to thin quickly. Globs of digestive fluids splattered on the two as the blades spun, as Private retched and shivered before wiping it off.

"Yuck Rico!" Private started, but gasped as he caught sight of three figures moving amidst the thinning smoke.

The figures were crustacean in form, but it proved to be more dangerous and menacing as the smoke cleared completely. The lobsters were similar to the ones they just knocked out in size, but that didn't make them any less intimidating. Their entire shells were painted midnight-black, with several shiny, lightweight metal plates adorning the chest, claw, and back carapaces secured by strips of grey cloth. The one in the center wore a charcoal- black robe, clearly tailored for his use, which definitely concealed an unknown array of weapons he was carrying. Each of them sported a grey colored, triangular-shaped piece of cloth around their mouth area, and carried a miniaturized katana in their left claw, razor sharp and deadly. Kowalski was awed by these figures, as he caught the sight of a crude caricature of that face, artificial eye and all, on their chest plates, Blowhole's insignia, which confirmed their identity, and his worst fears: they were the fabled Claws of Blowhole, the mad dolphin's own personal cadre of Ninja Lobsters. They had a legendary reputation of being master assassins, scouts, infiltrators, and escape artists, and were known for their skills in fighting and weaponry, which were on par or even superior to that of Skipper's skills. Kowalski took great relief in knowing that the only thing they lacked was numbers, with only a mere two dozen of them as accomplished Claws and the lengthy and hazardous process of training, which more often than not led to the unfortunate death of many a lobster. This made them much more loyal to their mad master, and they answered directly to Blowhole, and to Blowhole alone. Luckily, Blowhole rarely deployed them on the field, and when he did, he only did so for missions of dire importance. Kowalski considered their organization to be the single best creation Blowhole ever created, even more successful than the mutated Chrome Claw, even wondering whether the allegations of Blowhole having them mutated to further enhance their already incredible powers were true.

"Oh no Galileo" Kowalski whispered in awe.

The eyes perched on their stalks were unblinking, staring only at the intruders, sizing up and analyzing the penguins. Kowalski was too awed to do the same, as his eyes fell on the robed one in the center; he tried to remember every detail he recorded from every possible source he could find concerning the Claws of Blowhole, which was an almost impossible feat at best. They were almost non-existent, for Ninjas were taught and trained to never leave a trace and were extremely thorough; minimizing anything Kowalski or anyone could research on. The robed assassin met his eyes, as the intellectual summoned up the will power to get his mind working. The one in the robe was obviously a grandmaster, a rare sight, and that which shook Kowalski to his core. He broke the gaze and looked to his right, and saw Private shaking in fear, but he gasped when he saw Rico still smiling, a grin forming on his face which made the scar on his beak stretch wide. Kowalski was both shocked and appalled that he didn't even show even the slightest trace of fear or awe. He glanced back at the figures in front of him, and upon noticing the maniac's smile, slightly raised their weapons.

Rico's response was immediate, as he quickly regurgitated a lit bomb that flew with such force at the assassins it was but a blur. The robed crustacean responded even faster, drawing his katana high and, using the blunt side of his blade as a baseball bat, deflected it back. Rico's eyes opened wide as the deflected bomb smashed and exploded upon Private, who was hurled backward onto the wall. The duo were astonished at this feat and barely reacted in time as the two lesser ninjas leapt into action, their robed leader still keeping his stance, the katana above his eyes. Rico quickly regurgitated a metal baseball bat and brought it up just in time to parry the deadly strike, and began to exchange blows with his assailant. Kowalski brought his flippers together as if clapping, catching the flat sides of the blade before they cut him in half. His combat training coming quickly to him, he yanked forward, moving his belly to the side as the lobster sprawled toward him, refusing to let go of his weapon. Kowalski raised his brows expectantly, but that fleeting moment of victory vanished as the crustacean released the weapon before he could topple over, and placed a claw on the metal floor and used the momentum to spin in a multiple legged cartwheel. The tall penguin quickly dodged the falling tail before thrusting the katana to behind him in an intimidating gesture, but only to have it embed itself on the wall and almost impaling the recovering Private. He tugged at the handle, wondering why it wouldn't budge, and turned around to see it stuck in the wall. Smiling uneasily and with no time to say 'Oops', he met eyes with his foe, who quickly drew small twin knives very similar to the ones human use when peeling vegetables and were obviously pillaged from a kitchen, and raised them in a defensive stance. Kowalski backed up a couple steps, and grabbed the handle of the katana still protruding from the wall, two inches from Private's face, and tried to yank it out again as the ninja charged. Kowalski tugged harder, but it wouldn't come loose, so it forced him to weave in and out of the strikes of his opponent. Catching his foe's outstretched claw, he delivered a swift but powerful kick to its unarmored head, sending him sprawling in pain. He glanced at Rico, still exchanging blows with his attacker, before he regurgitated a hollow block that smashed against the started ninja's face, breaking in half with a smashing sound before it crumpled unconscious.

"Oooh my head…" came Private's voice, as he tried to stand as Kowalski helped him up.

Rico turned to Kowalski and with one careless pull, yanked the katana free. Kowalski turned to analyze Private's condition, but was tackled by the young penguin as a six-edged blade in the shape of a star, a shuriken, whizzed at the spot Kowalski's head was a moment ago. He turned his head to see the robed figure drawing more weapons from his tattered coat and throwing them with unerring speed and accuracy at the trio. Rico raised the stolen katana and was barely able to deflect the thrown blades before they sank themselves in him. The strategist stared at the grandmaster, placing his claw in his robe before withdrawing it with a knife or two in it and throwing it with uncanny aim at the three, and all in a space of less than a second, making his movements blur and distort, and Rico was hard pressed to deflect it all. Kowalski realized it was a futile situation, as the ammunition of the master assassin seemed inexhaustible, with him slowly stepping forward with each knife, shuriken, blade, or piece of glass thrown, and as the ninja Kowalski kicked began to rise and draw his blades again.

"**RICO!**" Kowalski roared, with Private still on top him, frozen and catatonic in fear as the blades whizzed past. "**CONSTRUCTION WORKER ALPHA! NOW!**"

In a swift fluid movement, Kowalski threw Private off of him and seized the katana Rico released a millisecond ago, and took up his stead in deflecting the rain of blades. The psycho backed up, standing behind his commander and strategist as he began to retch and gurgle, straining to regurgitate it. Private clutched onto Rico's leg, seeking comfort even from someone as damaged as Rico. Kowalski took a quick glance behind him to see Rico's progress, but paid for his inattentiveness as a knife trimmed a few of the feathers on his face as it whizzed past, almost severing Rico's Mohawk as well. Kowalski jumped in surprise and was determined to not let it happen again, as Rico's more forced retching starting to give him a signal of when to retreat. He knew it had but a 2.27% chance of working, and he dearly wished Skipper was beside him, instead of being hung up on Marlene. Rico gave a cry of pain and determination, and Kowalski knew what it meant. In a breath of a few seconds, Kowalski ducked and twisted, as a five-foot tall, six-foot wide brick wall erupted from Rico's maw and landed in front of them, shielding them completely. While twisting, Kowalski wrapped a flipper around Rico's midsection and pulled him down before any of the blades that made it past the falling wall injured the vulnerable weapons expert. Rico quickly regurgitated a hair dryer, and handed it over to Private, who began aiming it at the wall, making the digestive fluids that bathed it from Rico's gut harden and solidify, turning as hard as concrete. The brick wall covered the entire hallway, as the trio pressed onward to the control room, not even sparing a second to look back as they shot forward on their bellies towards the room.

***Later On…***

Blowhole stared at the screen, awed by the battle that unfolded, after which he shut the screen off and snarled in frustration. He slammed his flipper on his chair, just as the metal grille from above the center of the control room fell to the ground with a clanking noise as the three penguins descended. Blowhole snarled again and eyed the intruders. The scarred penguin regurgitated an object, which fell on the control panel, and a few seconds later, emitted an electric shock which fried the entire mechanism. The dolphin raised his fin to shield himself from the sparks but looked at the penguins with curiosity and dislike, but paused when he realized that there were only _three_ of them.

"Wait, where's Skipper? Surely he would want to be here when he gloats over another victory hmm?"

"Skipper's not here right now Blowhole, but we wanted to have a word with you." Answered Kowalski nonchalantly, even doing a few gestures with his flipper

"Oh is that so? Well, what do you want peng-you-ins?"

"We just have a proposition for you Dr. Blowhole!" Private exclaimed happily, apparently trying to seem nice to the dolphin, even talking as if they were close friends who wanted to draw unicorns on construction paper, so sugary was his tone.

"A proposition?" Blowhole said, clearly intrigued. "Now what is it that you want to propose, my dear peng-you-in?"

"It's all in this file!" Private said, and at which point Blowhole realized this was his usual way of talking, but who was also convinced it was fake. "Rico, if you'd be so kind!"

The penguin in question regurgitated a brown folder sealed in a plastic bag for cleanliness' sake, and unzipped it and handed it over to the dolphin as he stooped to pick it up. Blowhole stared at them for a while, clearly suspicious of their motives, but gazed at the folder in his fin. He eyed them again, and saw Private nodding at him as he placed his other fin on the other side and opened it the other way as he moved his face away from it, and holding it as if it were a bomb. A few seconds later, he shook it a little to be assured there was no explosive inside it, and read the file. His eye quickly widened in astonishment as he read it. The three penguins looked at him expectantly as he looked up from the document. They tilted their head to one side, just as Blowhole exploded into laughter, clutching his sides and howling with mirth. Private looked at his companions, who shrugged in response just as Blowhole recovered.

"If you-haha-think-hihi-you can even foo-fool me-hee, you're wrong!" Blowhole wheezed.

"But we aren't trying to fool you!" Private said innocently.

"Wait, what?" The madman said, choking on his ceased giggles. "Wait, you're serious!"

Blowhole looked over the file again, his eye moving so fast it was but a blur as he quickly riffed through the pages, his maw open wide in disbelief.

"You see," Private pressed on, looking up hopefully. "Skipper's been down in the dumps lately and-"

"I know, I read the file!" Blowhole snapped.

"Well, will you help us?" Private said, sounding hurt.

"Wait; allow me to straighten this out." The dolphin said, tapping his razor sharp teeth with the tip of his fin. "You want me to kidnap this 'Marlene', use her as bait for Skipper to fight and ultimately defeat me, and then she will fall in love with him, so he doesn't have to leave the zoo and everyone will live happily ever after?" He added sarcastically.

"Yup!" Rico said, nodding, but froze when his eyes fell on the bucket of fish beside Blowhole.

"Then you must be idiotic to think I would even go along with this stupid plan of yours!" Blowhole retorted, throwing the file onto the metal chair.

"We are willing to negotiate you know." Kowalski muttered, clearly insulted at Blowhole's response. "Rico, if you would do the honors!"

At this point, Kowalski glared at Rico expectantly, but saw that Rico was not paying attention, as he stared at the bucket of fish.

"**RICO!**"

"Huh? Ohyah!"

He regurgitated a white metallic suitcase, and approached the dolphin, which narrowed his eye in curiosity and suspicion.

"What could you possibly have to offer to get me ingrained in this pathetic plan of your-"

Rico swiftly opened the suitcase as an arctic wind escaped from it, blowing upon the dolphin. Blowhole shivered and stared at the contents of the briefcase before pulling it out. He sniffed it, analyzing it, and finding it to contain water, sugar, and a slight hint of-

"Raspberry!" Blowhole exclaimed. "That's my favorite! How could you possibly have known-"

"Lucky guess!" Private chuckled. "Go ahead! It's a Snowcone."

The dolphin eyed them suspiciously as he brushed his tongue very gently across its semi-frozen surface. Upon touching it, Private noticed his eye widen in ecstasy and delight, and couldn't help erupting into squeals and giggles. However, Rico took the chance to snatch up the fish as Blowhole was distracted, which resulted into him receiving a slap from Kowalski.

"So _Doctor_ Blowhole" Kowalski began, stressing the title in an effort to regain the dolphin's attention, who acted like the six-year old boys Kowalski had to entertain every day at the zoo. "Will you help us?"

"Oh, I apologize. What again?"

"If you promise to aid us in this undertaking to win Skipper's heart, you will receive more of these Snowcones. Are we upon a mutual agreement?"

"Oh, yeah!" Blowhole replied absentmindedly, licking the frozen treat greedily. "I'm listening."

"**YAY!**" Private squealed and launched himself a foot in the air in utter delight.


	14. Chapter XIV: A Private Point of View

**Even Otter Things Have Happened**

Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….

Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of DreamWorks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.

**Okayyyyyyy, so here's the recap. Sorry I wasn't able to update for the past few eternities. It's because well, of some Technical Difficulties, and when I say technical difficulties, yes I mean war over some stupid reason of which threatened to disband our group. But in the end, reason found its way into our already stuck-up heads and deflated them a little, so yes, we're alright now. In order to make it up to you guys and show that we are sorry about putting our petty differences before our commitments to the general reading community, the DrunkenTavern is going to do a MASS UPDATE sometime this week, starting with my story. I'm still so glad you guys like it, I kind of thought the original idea was pretty lame, until you, yes you!, convinced me otherwise! Thank you so much for all the support.**

**BTW, thanks to those who took time to review the last chapter: hardrocker21, The Darkly Angel, and lemurqueen!**

**Chapter XIV: A Private Point of View**

"Alright, Blowhole's in position; begin Phase One." Kowalski announced silently before pulling the hood of his black robe over his face, casting it entirely in shadow.

The two penguins beside him doing the same, they exited the cover of the nearby bushes and stealthily jumped over the wall. Private pulled his robes closer to himself as they silently entered Marlene's cave home. He had bad feeling in his gut as they neared they neared the main chambers of the otter's home. He heard a squelching sound, a mop moving over an uneven stone floor. Skipper did mention she had a date with Fred at night before he left off; she was cleaning. The brushing sound paused, just as her head perked up in suspicion. Instantly alarmed, the trio disbanded and then dispersed into the shadows, quickly finding cover. But Marlene wasn't your everyday-average otter, her keen senses were able to pick up their retreating movement. Private saw her casting nervous glances at the shadows and tightening her grip on the mop handle. His hooded gaze caught Kowalski signaling Rico to move into position. Rico complied, but Marlene caught the movement as well. She hunched over her mop handle, eyeing the exit and giggling nervously to herself. Rico reached his position, the trio forming a shadowy triangle, with Marlene in the center. He caught Kowalski signal him on the corner of his eye. It was now or never.

"Sorry about this Marlene." Private whispered, before quickly pouncing on the defenseless otter.

Rico quickly placed a flipper around Marlene's mouth, stifling the scream, while placing the other around her body and pulling her toward him. He held tight just as Marlene began to squirm, her arms trying to find a way out of Rico's grip. Private always knew Marlene wasn't one to go down without a fight, and she continued to struggle valiantly against Rico's iron hold. A paw found its way out and elbowed the side of Rico's face before Private caught it and wrapped his flippers tightly around Marlene and Rico, but he wasn't sure if he could hold on for long. He caught a flash of metal just before it sunk itself into the side of Marlene's neck, the contents quickly seeping into her bloodstream. A few seconds of wriggling, and her struggle slowed before vanishing completely. Private and Rico slowly released her as Kowalski tucked the syringe into his robes and pulled his hood off.

"Now we just need to get her all the way to the Reptile House." Private whispered, afraid Marlene might wake up any moment and see them.

Rico was beside him as he rubbed the side of his face where Marlene had elbowed it. Marlene's chest rose and fell slowly as the scarred penguin gently picked her up as a groom does his bride, and they sprinted off to the Reptile House. Kowalski secured his hood and followed the two as they jumped over the wall. The trek was slow, as they could not belly slide without leaving Marlene behind. Finally, they reached the main entrance as Private held the door open for the two. They were greeted by the mechanical leviathan just as the chest plates parted to reveal a screen behind it.

"What took you so long?" Blowhole muttered irritably before brushing his tongue over a half-eaten snow cone in his right flipper.

"We had to walk." Kowalski replied in similar fashion. "Well, let's get this over with."

"Alright, where is she?"

Rico raised Marlene and gently placed her on the outstretched drill-arm of the giant, which carefully raised her while the other arm with the hand grabbed a nearby coil of chains and wound it around the unconscious otter. The trio watched as the chain was then fastened to the pipes above.

"Gotta say, Kowalski." Blowhole said, brushing his tongue over the snow-cone once more as he swiveled the torso around. "She looks really pretty."

Private smiled as he followed Kowalski and Rico out the Reptile House. A few moments later, they heard a small click behind them.

Kowalski slid on his belly alongside the ecstatic Private as they advanced to the second point of their plan. The young private glanced behind him to see Rico in equal smoothness 'gliding' across the peach, hexagonal tiles. Rico caught his eye and winked in response, Kowalski nodding back as well before swiveling his head back. They reached the base of the building just as they came to a halt. Rico immediately regurgitated an airtight plastic bag that contained a brick, some string and a piece of paper. A few moments prior, they asked the chimps Mason and Phil to quickly jot down the note, both perplexed as to the intent but willing to help the penguins. Kowalski quickly extracted the items and fastened the paper to the brick using the string. Upon the tying of the last knot, Rico grabbed the brick from Kowalski's flippers and flung it high up in the air. Hearing a groan of pain and wheezing afterwards, Private flinched while the two looked uneasily at each other.

"Phase Two complete." Kowalski announced, and the trio sped off in the direction of the lair.

"Kowalski" Private said, throwing caution to the winds.

"Yes Private?" Kowalski called in front of him.

"What if the plan doesn't work? Or worse, what if Skipper finds out what we tried to do?"

"Then we'll have to make sure the plan works, including the part where Skipper _doesn't_ find out."

Private nodded in response, unaware Kowalski wasn't even looking at him. He could sense Kowalski's worry about failure, and the fact that this was largely his plan. Private deeply wanted for Skipper to be happy, but he never wanted it to happen this way. Maybe they just ran out of options. Private secretly admitted to himself that it would have been wonderful to be working side-by-side with Blowhole, but in this kind of work, he wasn't even sure if he could even pull it off.

They reached the lair and jumped up to the top of the stone platform, Rico quickly throwing aside the fish bowl before following the others into the lair.

"Commence Phase Three." Kowalski said quietly.

Private nodded and looked around the lair, quickly finding Mort on Rico's bunk, cuddled up with a replica of King Julien's foot, asleep. Private quickly had the incredibly life-like replica created simply to suppress the annoying lemur's foot fetish while they were away. He knew it would last for a few hours at best before he started zealously searching for the real feet, but it had to serve its purpose.

"Over here guys!" Private called, approaching the sleeping Mort just as the others closed in.

"Mort, Mort, wake up!" Private cooed, tapping the little lemur's face.

"Wha- feeeeeet. Good feet." Mort mumbled as his droopy eyes widened.

"Mort, we need your help now."

"Oh, what was I supposed to be doing again?" Mort said as he pulled the 'feet' closer to him.

"Didn't we already debrief you?" Kowalski groaned exasperatedly.

"I don't wear any of the underpants." Mort exclaimed innocently as he brushed his face against the feet.

Rico groaned impatiently as Private picked Mort up and laid him down in front of Kowalski.

"We already told you what to do." Private said as he walked away.

"It seems we'll have to remind you again." Kowalski said. "As soon as the squirrel arrives, use any and all means you have to distract him and prevent him leaving the lair until we arrive. Is that clear?"

"That sounds difficulty, can I just cuddle with fake feet again?" Mort said, pulling the feet closer.

"Look Mort, just do what we tell you to do and you can have the feet, the _real_ feet!" Private said, thinking quickly, before Kowalski could lose his temper.

"Oh okay!" Mort exclaimed, throwing away the foot replica.

The trio shed their robes, just as an alarm blared somewhere in the lair causing Rico to start blabbering insanely.

"Wait, that's Blowhole's signal!" Kowalski said after a moment of realization. "But he's eight minutes early!"

"Something must've gone wrong!" Private said quickly. "He wouldn't signal us yet if something hasn't gone to plan."

The trio instantly shot off toward the exit, Private hastily glaring at Mort to make sure he understood, but the lemur was talking to himself, thinking of any possible way to distract someone, but mostly about the incentive. They cleared the exit, just as Private caught a certain bushy-tailed shadow appear along the way.

"Fred's coming this way!" Private realized, turning to Kowalski, who did a sign with his flippers.

Private came to a halt; just as Fred appeared around the corner.

"Oh, hey Fred!" Private called, trying to sound un-worried and un-out of breath.

"Hello Private. No time for loquaciousness old chap, I'm off for my date with Marlene." Fred casually replied, his voice now a very odd tenor, very much unlike his normal Continental, almost like Private's own British. Clearly the serum was drastically affecting his physiology.

"Ahh, yeah, about that. Marlene, uhmm, she ummm, wanted to meet you at our habitat, since it's ummm, air conditioned, you know?" Private said quickly, hoping Fred would buy it. "We're out for the night, so we gave her permission to use it you know?" he hastily added.

"Very well then. Cheerio." Fred replied nonchalantly after a brief pause, and turned to their habitat.

Private inwardly gave a sigh of relief, and glanced back at Fred before he sped off in the direction of the Reptile House. It was all very odd. It seems the Kowalski's Ultraserum never stopped developing Fred's physiological being, and Private didn't need to be a genius like Kowalski to know that Fred's persona must have changed when his brain was being developed by the serum. Private chuckled to himself as he thought Fred was very much the spiritual embodiment of his Great-Uncle Rupert, with only the bowtie, feathers, top hat, penguin body and monocle absent. After a short moment of belly sliding as fast he could, he caught sight of Kowalski and Rico, waiting beside the wall of the House.

"Well?" Kowalski asked expectantly.

"Phase Three complete." Private said curtly, catching a small breather.

"Good!" Kowalski explained. "Then take cover."

Private opened his beak to ask, but shut it immediately as he glanced at the wall beside him. It was covered in remote-controlled detonation explosives, still covered in digestive fluids. Rico ushered him away to a nearby bench, just as he regurgitated a detonator. He looked to Kowalski expectantly.

"Kaboom?"

Kowalski nodded in response, determination radiating from the intellectual. Private found it inspiring. Rico hit the switch, starting to giggle as he did so.

"Go!" Private shouted, speeding ahead of the others.

The Reptile House was an absolute wreck. Private's eyes quickly scanned the environment, catching sight of the behemoth, two of its crystal eyes shattered. At least Skipper's battle edge was never dulled by Marlene's 'rejection'. But where was Skipper? Private gave a shout of glee as he saw Skipper directly in front of the robot. Private sped with all might to his former commanding officer as his comrades proceeded to 'engage' it, their battlecries echoing across the damaged House. The young penguin caught Skipper before he crashed.

"I gotcha Skipper, I gotcha." Private said, but upon scanning Skipper's condition, understood fully why Blowhole signaled them sooner. The once stalwart penguin's body was covered in cuts and bruises, the feathers ruffled, but what made Private gasp in horror was that Skipper's right side was covered in blood, a small but deep diagonal gash just visible a few inches above the right side of his scaly foot. The young penguin felt himself sinking into a bottomless whirlpool of guilt and remorse. He agreed to go along with this plan, even to recruit the likes of Blowhole, and look where it landed him. If Skipper died, it would be his fault, and he would have no one to blame but himself. His militaristic training overwhelming his desperation, he quickly called Kowalski over, who began analyzing the leader's condition. He held Skipper's head up as Kowalski administered the serum, completing the Fourth Phase of their plan. But Private couldn't leave him, he just couldn't, and all fright of the Skipper finding out vanished completely, to be replaced by the thought of Skipper _not_ surviving. Private grabbed Skipper and yelled at him.

"_**SKIPPER! SKIPPER, DON'T LEAVE ME! SKIP-HA-PER!**_**"**

Kowalski was beside him, pleading to no one in particular, until Kowalski urged him to assist Rico in the acting, but Private just couldn't go. Kowalski gently shoved him, and Private regained his bearings, and charged the robot after casting a worried glance at Skipper.

"What in the Queen's name happened back there?" Private whispered to Blowhole's face on the screen.

"I don't know." Blowhole said hurriedly. "I thought he got caught by a missile blast, but I armed the non-lethal ones, you know, the PWN-4GE missiles."

"PWN-4GE? What's PWN-4GE?"

"Stands for Pathetically Weak Nonsensical, for General Entertainment Missiles. The Point is he got caught by the shrapnel from the tile. Shoddy design of this building if you ask me, and that beloved leader of yours destroyed my targeting system." Blowhole said exasperatedly, keeping up the acting. He was quickly pressing buttons and turning levers to control the robot.

Private glanced behind him as Kowalski was waving around a pencil torch, the light dancing in characteristic spirals.

"The signal." Private whispered to himself in joy. Phase Four was _indeed_ complete, and Skipper _was_ going to survive. Private wanted to leap up into the air in utter happiness, but stopped himself in time. He had a job to do, and the plan wasn't complete just yet. He turned his head to meet Rico and Blowhole's gaze, and they both nodded in response.

"Oh dammit!" Blowhole whispered angrily as an alarm tone sounded on the control panel.

"What is it?" Private said, turning to the robot while chopping its leg.

"He also sapped my Missile-Launching System. It's almost done reloading!"

Private didn't need to be an expert of ballistics and weapons to know what it meant. The missile pods quickly launched just as Private called Kowalski's attention and tackled him to the ground just as the missile soared overhead. He heard Rico's 'uh-oh' and scream as he was flung into the nearby wall. Hopefully Blowhole threw him at the right angle and force to quickly send him to the rendezvous point. Unfortunately, it was Private's turn to leave. He charged the giant, winking at Blowhole as he did so, and was caught by the kick. Private was soon sent flying, pain throbbing in his right flipper, which he used to shield his face as he busted through the wall. The sense of flight was exhilarating, and he knew Blowhole was careful to angle its kick so as they land in the designated landing point. Private quickly stretched his flippers wide, trying to best angle himself so he would fall into Marlene's pool, which was the landing point. As he neared it, he twisted so as to fall gracefully into the water, reflecting the faint moonlight. With a great splash, Private held his breath as he felt water rush along his feathers. He twisted his head to make out the surface, as he felt the water ripple a short distance above him. He then felt strong flippers wrap themselves around his chest, turn and assist him in surfacing, the duo gasping for air and climbing ashore on the artificial bank.

"Thanks Rico." Private gasped, catching the gaze of his friend, also gasping for air.

Another splash, and a few seconds later, Kowalski's unmistakable gasps for breath as he too climbed ashore. Private looked at him expectantly, and he gave a nod of assurance. Skipper was indeed alive. Now Private did jump up in joy, and hug Kowalski a few moments later. He patted Private, and the exhausted trio scaled the wall and quickly entered their habitat, the final phase of the plan at hand, at least if Mort was able to hold up. Private quickly jumped down to see Fred blindfolded, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, Mort beside him giggling.

"Marlene? Is that you?" Fred said as he took his blindfold off.

"Ahhh, you peeked!" Mort exclaimed. "Bad squirrel! No surprise date for the peekies!"

"Whoa!" Rico grunted, surprised at Fred's new accent, which was much, much _fancier_ than his usual voice.

"Oh Good Graciousness, it appears to be but you gentlemen. Now do tell me, have you seen Marlene? It appears to be approaching half-past seven and – I say, why are you all sopping wet?"

"Oh, it's nothing Fred." Kowalski replied.

"Yeah, and you know women," Private chuckled, hoping Fred would buy it yet again. "always thinking about what to wear to dates, if she looks pretty or not. She's only just preparing for her date."

"You think so dear boy? Then she is quite excited about being romantically engaged to an above average Casanova such as myself." Fred curtly replied, thoroughly bored yet again, but cocked his head to the side as he caught sight of Rico. "I say dear lad, why are you limping like that?"

Kowalski glanced around quickly and spotted the tray that still contained the cocoa Fred asked for the yesterday morning still spiked with the antidote. He knew he had to act quickly.

"Here Fred, waiting must have gotten you thirsty. Here, have some cocoa."

Fred looked away from Rico and accepted the cup. He took a small gulp, before replacing the cup on the tray.

"It's cold." He pompously announced, again thoroughly bored.

"You certainly did a great job Mort!" Private said, patting the little lemur on the head yet again.

"Yaaaaaay! I love distracting!"

Fred started in an instant.

"Distracting? Distracting! You mean to say this was all merely a ruse? I would have chosen to knock your heads off if you were even worthy of my fists!"

"Any second now…" Kowalski muttered evilly.

Fred's mouth was opened wide in anger, but all that came out of his mouth were stutters as his eyes became unfocused. His body started warping, and then began shrinking. A few seconds later, he was back to his normal Fred state, his eyes still unfocused, his teeth as buck-toothed as ever.

"Did it work?" Private asked Kowalski.

"Only one way to find out…"

"Wh-where am I?" Fred drawled, his eyes focusing again.

"You got lost on your way to the bathroom." Kowalski replied plainly.

"We have a bathroom here? I just go where I am standing."

"It's Fred." Private said.

"Definitely Fred." Kowalski concurred.

Rico giggled before grabbing Fred from the chair and none too gently throwing him out the fish-bowl hatch. The final phase of their plan now complete, all they had to do now was wait.

"Hey Kowalski?" Private said as the tall penguin took the young one's injured flipper and began analyzing it.

"Yes Private?"

"Between you and me, I really really really hated the new Fred."

"Yeah!" Rico called before he and Private burst into mad laughter.

"Me too, Private. Me too." Kowalski replied, with a knowing smile on his face as he began bandaging Private's injured flipper, tears of mirth coming from the youngling's eyes.

A few seconds later, Kowalski himself joined in the laughter.


End file.
